Beach Trip!!

So while I was looking for things to do in Palmerston North I couldn't help but notice how narrow the island was at this point and that the beach had to be pretty close. Right? So I decided that I would bike to the beach, pack a lunch and make a day of it. Boy was it a good thing I did. Of note, I have now found just how far I can handle on a bike without my "bum" as they call it here going numb. I have also downloaded an app to convert metric so that I will never again think that 40k really isn't that far.

So Sunday the 19th looked great for weather, I walked Doug, made my lunch, and got ready to head for the beach. And one of the many not smart moves of the day started there, I did put on some sunscreen, but missed the back of my hands and didn't bring it with me.

Since I can't link in the site for my GPS watch I at least figured out how to add in a link to the actually activity event on my account. So here is the link to this ride. The ride out was pretty slow, fun fact about an island near the ocean, wind is pretty much a constant. It felt like it was blowing against me all the way to the beach about twice as fast as I was biking. Luckily the direction didn't change and the portion of my trip pack that the watch stayed on for was much faster.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/434406611 - trip there

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/434406604 - partial trip back

I was really really happy to finally see this sign! The whole trip I kept thinking I would see the ocean to give me something to ride towards, that was incorrect. There kept being little hills and rows of trees, I couldn't see the ocean until I was there.

 

 

These rescue boats made me laugh, they look a lot like the Oscar Meyer Wiener car if you ask me!

 

 

These were all over the beach, I'm not sure if they would have stung me, but I walked very very carefully just in case.

 

 

This seemed like a much better way to get to the beach than my version... and the fat corgi made the picture just for my Dad!

 

 

Overall it was a fun trip,  bit more biking and less beach time than I had expected but I saw the Tasman Sea and started my New Zealand continued work on my New Zealand shell collection. My hope is to get one shell from each beach I visit here.... the trick will be remembering which came from which beach and finding different ones at the beaches. By the time I got home the  5+ hours on the bike in the wind and sun had made the back of my hands feel horribly burned... They were even swollen. Luckily I did put the watch on the bike handle or otherwise I would have a wicked watch tan.

 

I really got shocked expressions from the people I was housesitting for when they got back and I told them this was one of the day trips I had done on the bike. They don't think they live close to the beach..... guess it is all perspective!

The Rose Garden

While I have never been a huge fan of roses, the Dugald MacKenzie Rose Garden was truly beautiful. The garden is in the Victoria Esplanade right on the Manawatu River. This was where I spent most of Friday the 17th of January. There are bike trails, several playground areas, an aviary, cute café and even a miniature train that will take you all around the Esplanade. It seemed like a very nice place for families and outdoor activities. The rose garden itself has areas built in for weddings and other events too.

So here are the pictures!

 

I was trying to get the gate shut all the way for this picture but it got stuck and I felt bad because a woman walked up and asked if the garden was closing for the day. I told her it was not and I was sorry I was just trying to get a picture of the gates... she apparently didn't think that was a good idea and kinda looked at me like I was a crazy person!

 

 

The colors were so pretty these pictures don't hardly do the roses justice but here are a couple closeups of my favorites.

 

 

I really could have sat on this bench and enjoyed the view for quite awhile, there was even a guy who came with a coffee and did that for most of the time I was taking pictures!

 

 

Even outside the Rose Garden the landscaping and aviary were pretty picturesque too.

 

 

 I finished my visit with a nice cup of tea at the café, such a fun place!

 

The Wanderings of Doug and I

Well as I had expected the first week was kept mostly full of walking Doug, hanging out with Tia and relaxing when the weather wasn't quite as nice. But I got quite a few pictures and played with my GPS watch quite a bit.

For the second week in New Zealand I added17.5 miles of walking so I don't think they count towards my 1000 miles for the year. But I have gotten to explore so pretty walk ways that I will be hitting up for runs later on.

During my relaxing time I have taken advantage of housesitting in a home with younger children... by watching Tangled and all of the Harry Potter movies. There has definitely been some decompression this week in having some quite, personal space and time to think about not thinking about work. I have enjoyed catching up with several people of Skype as well and am almost use to how horrible a camera angle it is!

One of the things that I did here was go grocery shopping, in a larger grocery store than in Auckland and for regular groceries since I have my own (very nice) kitchen to use for the next two weeks. To begin with, it is still very weird to see eggs not refrigerated in the store. Turns out the US is one of the few places that puts eggs in the fridge. I am also still a little blow away by the no coffee creamer situation. I have found one small jar of powder CoffeeMate Creamer but that is it! I am also surprised at how most people drink freeze dried coffee (instant) that is added to hot water and don't have a coffee maker at all. Since I found the whole process of grocery shopping so interesting this week I decided to make it the basis of the 3 things I like and 3 things I wasn't so fond of.

1. How expensive the groceries seem. While I do keep in the back of my mind that the exchange rate is good, almost $4 for 2L of milk and chicken breasts being around $10.00 a pound means you change up your shopping list a bit.
2. The fact that Turkey doesn't exist here.... for a country that is so big on birds turkey is non-existent. There is no turkey for sandwiches, no ground turkey, and really when I asked about it they seemed shocked. It is apparently only very rarely cooked around holidays.
3. The last one is going to be non-grocery related. The inability of either acuweather or the weather channel to be able to give me at least which half of the day it will be raining correctly. I have been getting into the habit  of checking the weather a lot more regularly (read every morning before I get out of bed and several times during the day) than I ever did in Arizona. After all, knowing exactly how hot it isn't never helps. But, when the weather says rain in the morning clearing in the afternoon and the opposite happens.... it makes getting in a run more of a challenge. Also, I am a fair weather dog walker I have decided. Doug probably doesn't want to go out in the rain anyway right?  

And now for the plus side!

1. The fact you have to PAY FOR GROCERY BAGS! Yep, those plastic grocery bags here will cost you 10c each. While that is not a huge amount you want to know what a simple thing like that will do... really make you think about and even walk back out to get those reusable grocery bags! I couldn't help but notice that there also has been a total of one plastic bag that I have seen this whole time blowing around. This also cuts down on cashiers who get huffy when you have your own bag and the wonderful 2 or even 1 item per plastic bag resulting in 50 bags of groceries to bring in from the store.
2. The bike lanes here! This does tie in with grocery shopping because I have been riding a bike to get them here. Also a side note is that saddle type bags on a bike for groceries are pretty slick, way better than just the front basket I had at home. But back to the lanes, they are not only on both sides of the street but also about 1/2 a car lane wide! I have also been using this biking in traffic as a chance to practice this whole on the left thing. Still weird after a week.
3. The amount of locally grown/made foods that are in the grocery store and not super expensive. I feel like a lot of times in the US there is a local option but it is frequently more expensive but here there seems to be quite competitively priced local options. This includes things from fresh produce all the way to cereal or peanut butter. I am sure that this is partially due to the price of importing anything not made here in New Zealand but I still like it :) Not to mention the ingredients lists seem a lot sorter than ours.

Well now for the really fun part :) some of the pictures from this week!

 

 

 

While it might look like I have been playing favorites don't worry! Tia and I also spent some quality time together. She just wasn't as willing to hold still for pictures. But she was an occasional snuggle buddy and finally gave up fighting me picking her up :) it is futile! I will cuddle a cat if I want to.

 

 

In fact we were such good buddies she brought me a present to the door.... I think it is a lizard that had already lost his tail trying to get away from her. I also received a mouse... neither were dead so I think that means I rank pretty high!

 

 

 

Palmerston North

Friday morning the 9th of January I left Auckland for Palmerston North to start my first housesitting job. The trip was 533 kilometers or 331 miles via charter bus.




View Larger Map

I took this trip via charter bus as a lot of travel here is done that way. The roads are very, very, very narrow and twisty. Where the American way seems to be to level and change the landscape to the road, New Zealand takes the wind our way around nature approach. It amazed me that the major roads that you would use to travel between larger cities would be only two lanes (one in each direction) and at times have no shoulder at all. It made the warning at the beginning of the trip that it was the law to wear your seatbelt on the bus pretty understandable and easy to comply with.

Palmerston North is not on the usual tourist route but I am excited to start my housesitting here and get to know more about the people in real New Zealand that most people just visiting for a couple weeks would never see. Palmerston North is considered a city and I was quite surprised to learn it has over 80,000 people. Especially after being there for awhile! It houses a University and several other smaller colleges but feels just as laid back and small as home town Nebraska.

One of the habits I now have is to google the top 10 things to see in any town I come to here in New Zealand. Palmerston North had several ideas come up including the world famous rose gardens, a national rugby museum as well as several walking and biking tracks that are well quite popular. I actually arrived at one of the recommended things to visit, the Palmerston North Square in the heart of the town. It is really beautiful and there were some good shops and the town library spread around it. It worked out quite well that this was only a 10 minute bike ride from the house.

 

I am also excited to meet some people who are not travelers, although my main companions for the next couple weeks will likely be Doug and Tia, the cat and dog I am looking after. But between those two, the bike I was lucky enough to be left (so thankful for that!) and my camera I should stay busy!