I DIDN'T KILL ANYONE!!

Just a quick note to celebrate the utter excitement I'm feeling:

I drove alone in Hedwig and I didn't hit anything or kill anyone!!!   
(picture me doing my happy dance)

Todd and I drove around downtown Dunedin in a large circle, several times, before I felt comfortable enough to let him jump out and get a haircut.  I then continued on in the loop to drop something off at Laura's office and after going around the loop twice, I picked Todd up again and all was well with the world.  

There was a fair amount of jack-rabbiting, a couple tire squeals (but it was wet!), and a few odd looks... but Teo Ma Ruru pulled through and together (with Todd's help and a few gasps) we made it in and out of a treacherous car park, avoided several silly drivers and pedestrians and made it back up the large hill, including a wee hill stop that I unconsciously didn't notice so I didn't freak out about it and no hand brake was required.

Altogether a Red Letter Day and I felt like sharing my fabulous news.  

Regularly scheduled blogposts with pictures and actual stories/adventures will resume tomorrow.  :)

Fraser's Gully & Tunnel Beach!

Sunday morning, Todd got up and made Nicaraguan tortillas!  No, he is not Nicaraguan.  Yes, Laura and I both are.  Yes, Todd is better at making them than both of us.  Point?

After a lazy morning eating tortillas and sunbathing on the deck, Todd, Vanessa and I met Vanessa's friend Susan and Susan's dog, Lucky, and we all went for a walk at Fraser's Gully.  It was a lovely, only slighting uphill, walk next to a very loud and pretty stream, but covered from the sun with lots of trees and ferns!!  I had a lot of fun taking pictures of all the Korus. 

"The koru, which is often used in Māori art as a symbol of creation, is based on the shape of an unfurling fern frond. Its circular shape conveys the idea of perpetual movement, and its inward coil suggests a return to the point of origin. The koru therefore symbolises the way in which life both changes and stays the same."  Where I got this info on Korus

I took several pictures.  The big brown ones are rather scary and furry looking.  Vanessa says you can eat certain kinds...but we weren't sure which ones, so we avoided death and just took pictures, not tastes.

Some scale, courtesy of Todd

The much less ugly/scary Korus

Vanessa pointed out the Fuchsia tree whose bark can, and was, used to write letters on and whose flowers are tiny and lovely.

We reached the top of the gully, stopped for a rest and made Lucky fetch her stick while we rested, and then moseyed on home.  My favorite picture from the gully:

Back at home, there was more sun bathing and my first taste of Vegemite on toast.  Don't hate it, don't love it.  But I'll learn to eat it if it keeps mosquitoes away!!

The main event of the day was our trek to Tunnel Beach.  The 4 of us were joined by Michael, Rose and Francis (more friends of Vanessa) and we drove out to walk down the large hill to this gorgeous beach with awesome rock formations.  The story goes, if I remember correctly, that there was a princess who lived in the castle at the top of the hill (now ruins) and she liked to swim a lot.  So they built her a tunnel down to her own private beach so she could swim as she pleased.  I think that's the whole story?  Ask Francis :)

Just pictures from here on down - soooo beautiful! 

The view from the top

My sister, the sneaky photo ninja

The tunnel down to the beach

Comatose seal - good thing they sleep a lot cuz apparently they're fast and mean.  And smelly.

The view back up to where we were

 

Rockin' Band Photo, eh?

We decided to go to the neighboring beach

Laura went through the kelp and a wave knocked her into a rock

So on the way back, she had a buddy :)

Our shoes stayed safe and dry on our beach hopping adventure

The trek back to the top

Going Kiwi - did I mention that Kiwis walk EVERYWHERE barefoot if they want?  Mom, sorry, but I may never leave!

And to finish our fun and sun filled day, we ordered fish and chips.  They wrap the fish pieces in brown butcher paper with the fries, so when you get home you have to dig for the fish, free-for-all style.  So good.

Todd's Birthday and Penguins

Last weekend was busy busy busy.  On Saturday, it was Todd's birthday but seeing as we're a day ahead of everyone, no one in the states was really celebrating yet.  But we did!  We had brunch with Deb and Lynnette (friends of Laura and Todd's after a chance encounter in a jewelry store revealed that Deb had grown up in the same town that Laura and Todd live in in Maryland.  Crazy small world.  

Todd, Lynnette, Deb, Moi and Vanessa

It was a rainy day and was supposed to clear up so after a lazy afternoon at home watching Top Gear, we drove out to Portobello to have Korean BBQ at the house of Laura and Vanessa's co-worker Kitty. 

Kitty!

Todd and Dan grilling

um... self explanatory picture

Anna - the only one who dressed up in honor of the evening's future activities

After we grilled and ate about 6.5 pounds of meat (so much but sooo good) and large slices of chocolate cake, we drove further out on the peninsula to see the penguins come home!  There's an area where volunteers corral visitors (like us!) from getting too close to the penguins so they can get to their nests and feed their babies.  The penguins that nest there are Blue Penguins, which are about 10" tall and ADORABLE!  If you've seen Madagascar, then you'd have to assume that Dreamworks animators looked at these penguins to create the S.W.A.T. penguins in the movie.  

They come in from the water like a dark ripple.  It's rather scary if you don't know they're only 10" tall and weigh 2 pounds.  Once the fast moving ripple reaches the shore, 16 penguins climb out and scamper up the rocks and then waddle up the beach to their meeting point.  Once they've all assembled, they move out, bellies to the ground so they blend with the night.  Here's my picture of them doing that:

They blend really well.

We plan to go back on a clear night with, preferably, a full moon so we can see the penguins better.  

Knitting & Pool

A while back, I joined Ravelry.com, it's basically facebook for knitters and crocheters.  Yes, I might have some grandmother tendencies...whatever.  Anyways, there are a gazillion groups on Ravelry so I looked for one based in Dunedin and found the group Take Back the Knit (I believe it's an unwritten law that anything knitting related - be it store or ravelry group - needs to have a pun in the name). I emailed a couple of the members and asked where they meet during the summer and was given directions to one of the member's home.  Laura and Todd dropped me off on their way to coffee and I walked into a stranger's house to go knit.

Shockingly, I don't think I was the youngest person there!  There was another girl about my age who's getting a degree in Neuroscience at the University of Otago and 4 other women ranging in ages up to maybe 60.  It really was a knitting circle.  No TV, tea, chocolate, and 6 women knitting and talking.  Haha, it was completely cliche and spectacular!!! 

I got an education on fruitcake from one of the women.  She's flying up to Canada for someone's wedding so that she can make a fruitcake.  In NZ, it's tradition to have your wedding cake be fruitcake.  It's not just a disgusting Christmas cake here like it is in the states!  It's still a special dessert that makes an appearance not just at Christmas but apparently most weddings.  Apparently, baking it in a wooden box is best because then the corners don't burn and you only have to use 1 piece of baking paper and not 6.  There was also discussion on currants and which brandy to use to get a really dark cake as well as how to soak the fruit to get the best brandy absorption.  Seriously...an education.  I'm going back again this week.  

Being the only unemployed member of the household tends to sign you up for cooking on a regular basis so everyone else doesn't think you're useless.  Needless to say, I enjoy Fridays when the Friday Shop is open and we go buy steak pie for dinner.  Good.  Deal.  And there is literally a shop that is only open on Fridays and all they sell is gone by noon.  Theories abound that they're a catering company during the week as well, but it's amazing that they stay in business and are SO POPULAR when they're only open 5 hours a week.  

Friday was also the eve of Todd's birthday.  Saturday was booked already so we went out Friday to play some pool.  Laura DOES NOT know how to play and was very confused why the cue ball couldn't be moved wherever you wanted it to go.  Vanessa calls the stripes "BIGS" and the solids "LITTLES".  We're not sure if that's a Kiwi thing or a Vanessa thing.  Vanessa's not sure either.

Vanessa's good cuz she used to play a lot.  Todd got better the longer we played - helped that he had skill to begin with.  I get better after a beer and an hour of practice.  Laura's attention span isn't that long when beer's involved so we made up our own versions:
Quadrants: We all got our own quadrant.  If the cue ball stops in your quadrant, you get to hit it.  Solids/stripes and team rules still apply.
Speed Pool: You have 3 seconds after the cue ball stops moving to make your shot, solids/stripes and team rules still apply.  A) stinks when the cue ball stops but the ball you hit hasn't and you're not sure if it's going to go in B) good thing that nobody who was really playing was near us cuz we were making tracks around that pool table with our cuesticks sticking out at all wonky angles.  

After pool, we went to the Octagon (the center of town) and had wedges at Craic, one of many bars in the Octagon.  Wedges are just steak fries, but they're served with sour cream and sweet chili sauce.  I would put sweet chili sauce on par with ketchup for how prevalent a condiment it is.  All the Kiwis love it and would probably eat it with everything if given the chance.  And it is quite yummy - they're not crazy!