South Island

We are off to the south island tomorrow - so expect these posts to become much less frequent as I suspect, given the nature of our accommodation - a metal tent effectively, that the internet woll become something more akin to a luxury.

Food in New Zealand

On arriving here we at first thought that food was expensive.  This was because we had no transport and had to rely on eating out or shopping in small convenience stores.  Now we have been using supermarkets and vege markets we have realised that it isn't expensive at all. In fact - because New Zealand produces most of it's own fruit and veg - it's cheaper than at home.  Given that the NZ dollar is worth about 48 pence - what you get for your dollar is good.

We have mostly been eating lunch out,  and cooking an evening meal wherever we have been staying (if this is possible). I have been trying some different things such as NZ hot dog - a battered sausage on a stick,  and mussel fritter - mussel meat fried with egg and herbs served with garlic mayo on a piece of white bread.

On general prices,  sweet corn is cheap and plentiful - we've been eating a lot of that on the cob. Cost is about 4 cobs for 2 dollars.  Cheapest bread is a dollar,  six eggs are about 2 dollars. NZ wine is quite inexpensive - the cheapest good one is about 8 dollars. We usually eat lunch out for about 20 dollars or less, home cooked evening meal with wine is averaging about 25  dollars. Two sirloin steaks last night cost $6.50 (for the two).  The huge green lipped mussels that they have here are about four dollars a kilo! Oddly - lamb is still quite expensive. They also have lots of veggie stuff, including quorn.

There is masses of gluten free stuff as well - far more than in the UK. Many varieties of bread, cakes and other goodies.  Prices for these are good also. Cafes and restaurants often have whole GF menus.

On the whole - excellent, fresh and quite inexpensive.

I'm having real problems publishing this from my phone with pictures - so I'll take them out for now and add them again when I have a better connection. 

The Beehive - Wellington Parliament

On the way back from the stadium we passed the 'Beehive'. This is the local name for the Parliament building here in Wellington,  which is,  of course,  the Capital of New Zealand.  You can see from the picture why they call it this.  It's close to the railway station,  outside of which there were a group performing Beatles songs really well.  We were singing along.  I'm not sure if it's just the cricket but there's certainly a lot going on.

Wellington Beach

It was a hot afternoon so we thought an ice cream on the beach seemed a good idea.  We wandered around Oriental Bay and found the beach - luckily with an ice cream stall nearby.  We tried the water - it was a bit too cold for us,  but many Wellingtonians were jumping in and swimming away no problem. 

I came across  Maori man doing a kind of water dance at the edge of the sea.  It's a shame that I can't put video into this app version of blogger. I watched him for a while.  I think that his wife was sitting on a ledge behind him,  waiting.  He didn't attract much attention at all - surprising to me.

The views across the Harbour were great and the Carter Fountain was producing rainbows in the sun.

The Cricket Match

Just so happens that we are in Wellington at the same time as the New Zealand versus England match.  It was on Friday (its Saturday today), but there have been some other things going on.  On Thursday we had tea on the green, then there was a free concert that evening. Can't remember the bands except one called Lawrence Arabia.

Friday morning we all gathered at the 'green' again,  where there was a brass band and then Morris Dancers! At one o'clock the band led us all on a march to the stadium.  It was good fun.  Thousands of people.  Performers. People on stilts and unicycles. We didn't go in as we didn't have tickets and it was just as well really because England were trounced!

Te Papa

At this moment sitting  in the above museum drinking a coffee.

Wellington Wanderings

Some pictures taken whilst walking around the city yesterday, including some above the main part after riding on the cable car. 

Wellington and English Tea on the Lawn

We arrived in Wellington about six o'clock.  This was because we had a three hour return round journey back to Palmerston North to pick up the camera that I left in a drawer at the motel.  The owner had rang us when we were just the other side of Masterton. We had to abandon the other small stops that we had planned. I drove back, then K drove all the way to Wellington.

We checked in,  then we put the car in the Te Papa Museum car park overnight - the YHA had a special concession.  We picked up some cooked chicken and salad for food,  and didn't go to bed too late. 

Next day we returned the car,  then went for a long walk around the city.  It began close to Civic Square - the administrative centre - where they were holding a celebration for the Cricket World Cup coming to Wellington.  The first game is between England and New Zealand on Friday (tomorrow). They had 'tea on the lawn' - a white picket fenced area serving English tea and scones, or New Zealand  lamingtons. The waitresses had aprons and the tables had linen tablecloths.  We were served on proper china plates from England.  There was a string quartet playing. All very nice in the sunshine. 

Tui Brewery

We left Palmerston North about ten and headed for Wellington. We would pass the Tui Brewery on the way, so we thought that we would call in.

Good choice.  It was great fun.  Rather sexist in many ways I suppose, but we both found it amusing.  You could choose to have a tour if you wanted,  or just have a look around on your own (but you didn't get to see inside the brewery). We did the latter and spent an hour wandering around.  One of their ad slogans is "Yeah right" - which takes the form of a  statement such as "Another month and I'll have my summer body back" - "Yeah right".

There are lots of these statements,  and they even have a board where you can make your own up - see the pictures for the one that we did. 

Palmerston North

We rose fairly late from the crisp white sheets of our king size bed and had a leisurely breakfast,  knowing that the highlights of Palmerston North would not take a great deal of time to reveal themselves to us.  K had found a brochure for a sculpture trail through the town,  and that would form the basis for our wanderings. 

The motel is less than 10 minutes walk from the town's Central Square, with it's War Memorial. The day was turning out to be very warm indeed.  We found the sculptures,  one by one,  then had time to have lunch at Cafe Cuba and visit the museum and art gallery.  It was still only three thirty.  This is a very clean and arts aware place.  The ''Cafe Culture' was much in evidence. Enjoyable to walk around.  The attendant at the museum was a joy,  and very informative. 

We decided that we would eat in this evening,  as we ate out last night - so we did some shopping on the way back to the motel.  Now I am sitting on a bench in the sun at 6.30pm writing this!

From Napier to Palmerston North

This is not a long drive if you don't stop.  We stopped a few times.  The first was at the Arataki Honey Producers in Havelock North. Good place.  They have lots of information, free tastings and even some bee costumes to try on (if you're small enough)  :)

Next stop was a place named Dannevirke - so named because it was founded by a group of  Scandinavian families in the early 1900s. As we drove into town we saw lots of references to vikings.  There was even a children's playground with a (play) viking boat in it.  We stopped for some food and a coffee,  then found the information place and asked "Why?". It was  basically because the aforementioned families had colonized the area. 

The last stop was at Manawatu Gorge - which is, apparently, one of the few places in the world where a River cuts through a mountain range forming a natural gorge. It had roadworks on it which made it a little slower to get through than normal I suppose. 

We arrived at Palmerston North at about 4.15pm, registered at our motel (which is a bit like a Castle), then went for an explore.  We are very close to the town centre. 

Pania of the Reef

A statue on the Napier seafront

Mission Vineyards

This morning we went to see the oldest winery in New Zealand - Mission,  dating from 1851.  Interestingly, it is still owned by the Catholic Church. 

Napier Port and Bluff Hill Domain

After the visit to the aquarium the weather seemed a little better and so we headed for Bluff Hill, which overlooks Napier and the port. At one time,  before the quake of 1931, this had been a virtual islet at the end of an isthmus.  Then the quake caused the ground to rise by four metres,  and the sea receded.  The land was reclaimed,  and now it sits at the edge of the main part of Napier. There were some great views from the top. 

National Aquarium of New Zealand

A rather cloudy and wild day led us to visit the above.  Very interesting.  Also curious in that as well as fish and such,  there were also a fair number of other creatures represented.  Lizards, turtles,  penguins and even some Kiwis.  These were in a nocturnal section and we could see the two of them quite clearly rooting about in the earth with their long beaks. 

They were clearly male and female because the smaller male was obviously being amorous in trying to groom the female.  Then, in clear view,  he mounted her!  I'm sure that's  something that we will never see again in our lives!

The walk under tank with sharks and rays in was great - and we could see some divers who had paid to 'swim with the sharks'. It was a clear glass tunnel of thick glass,  with fish swimming all about. We spent about two hours in there, and had a snack lunch in their cafe.