Saturday in the Park

My family and I spent all Saturday morning exploring Pukekura Park, the equivalent of Central Park for our town. We found so many cool places!

We parked by a huge natural soccer stadium, and while the girls got unbuckled and ready to go my brothers and I got to let out some energy :)

From there we took off on the first trail we found, simply there to see what we could see...

...The first thing we found was the "Fernery", a group of greenhouses connected by tunnels and all full of beautiful flowers, ferns and fountains. We spent almost and hour wandering around with everyone saying, "Wow! look at this one!" and "Come here you need to smell this!" and "Hold still, thats an awesome picture!"

From the Fernery we took a quick walk through a dense forest, and came out on the edge of pristine lake hidden in the middle of the park. I was amazed how even in the middle of what's supposed to be winter here there were so many trees covered in flowers!

 

My dad and I both had lots of fun taking pictures of the girls in the flowers.

Oak was full of energy, and was always either up a tree or running around jumping off of things. And I have to say, there were some pretty awesome climbing trees!

Our expedition eventually had to come to an end though, and when it started to pour on us and my dad had to be back to work we decided it was time to go. We all climbed back into MAVY and drove home, feeling very accomplished on another successful adventure.

Sunday Scenery

We woke up this Sunday to a beautifully clear day, our first one all week. After church we spent a few hours just driving around enjoying the view of Mt. Taranaki. It truly is an stunning mountain!

Kiwi Quirks

One might think that because they speak English in New Zealand it wouldn't much different than living in Utah. Generally this is true, but every once and awhile I come across these quirky differences that keep life very interesting...

For example, in New Zealand they are willing to go to any length to please their customers. Can't decide which kind of cookie you want? No problem we'll just weld them all together so you can have some of everything! 

Although maybe I was being too stereotypical. It appears that the clothes stores haven't quite caught on to the pleasing their customers idea. $130 for a pair of jeans?! And these aren't those fancy kind they dress up the way-too-buff creepy-faceless dummies with, this is just a regular pair of jeans off the shelf!

Of course then there are "heaps" of funny words that I'm not very "keen" on yet. Haven't any of you ever wondered what the official word is for those escalators they have in airports that just go flat, not up or down? Ya, me too! Well now I know. They're called "travelators".

Well this is all "great fun", but at times New Zealand's quirks become quite a nuisance...

Who ever heard of putting the toilet in an entirely separate room from the sink and shower! I'm not even kidding! 

Oh, and all their toilets have two flush buttons... still not exactly sure why, and I'm not sure I want to find out :)

However, by far the worst mistake that was made in conception of New Zealand restrooms is their showers....

Let me explain. First off they seem to be very confused about the comfortable temperature for a shower. The shower is labeled, Cold - Warm - Hot. So of course I assumed I'd want somewhere in between Warm and Hot. NO! I could have boiled my breakfast with that water! I ended up getting the temperature right somewhere between Cold and Warm.

Secondly, who has ever heard of a shower a foot off the ground?... very weird. But worst of all is the height of the shower head. Now I can understand that I'm a little taller than average, but this much worse than that. I kid you not when I say that I kneel down to get my hair wet! Standing straight up the water hits just a little over my belly button.

Well, as you can see, just because we speak the same language doesn't mean everything about our countries are the same. These were a few of my favorite of many Kiwi quirks :)

Livin' in Paradise

A lot of people have asked for pictures of where I'm living, and I don't have much, but here you go :) I'll throw in a comment here and there, but mostly just enjoy the amazing scenery!

 One of the rare days when we could see Mt. Taranaki at sunset, usually its surrounded by too many big poofy clouds.

 For those of you who don't already know I have somewhat of an obsession with sunsets. I took this from a precarious perch in the top of tree outside our condo so that I could see above the hospital.

Left hand side of the road... still getting used to that :P 

 These waves looked big to us, but our surfing friends tell us this is nothing!

 Another tree-top picture...

Hopefully now y'all can understand a little bit better why I feel like I'm livin' in paradise!