What a fun day!

This morning was a lot warmer than the last two mornings, almost barefoot in the dewy grass type morning. Chris and Bryan went off to one of the local golf courses and Jenni, Zoze and I went out on a girls morning out.

I am still completely turned around – can’t figure out which way is north, where the roads lead or anything so it’s a good thing Jenni drove. We got a really early start and realized that nothing was open yet – most little cafés etc don’t open til 10 and here we were driving around before nine! But as luck would have it we found a place in Katikati – don’t you love the names? – how about Katikati Kitty Kats, a kennel! We turned into the parking lot – with signs saying “Park on the Grass’ which we did and wandered past an old tractor set amongst the flower beds. Into the little store to find out if the restaurant was open and met Nancy who runs the attached museum. Yes the café (pronounced caff) was open but we must come back for her museum tour.

Breakfast was great – bacon and eggs and toast etc and coffee of course. Then into the museum for an education! The Katikati museum started from stuff an old local guy had collected over many years. When he died, Nancy and Ken took over his sheds of stuff and have developed a wonderful museum! We had a running commentary from Nancy as we went through it – we were the only ones there – and she as an absolute hoot! Not only Maori history and lore but lots and lots of other stuff. Like an old foot powered organ that she sat down at, explaining that this is the type of organ she heard when she went to church with her grandmother. She dons this ancient felt hat and proceeds to play and sing! Oh my! It was hilarious! And her husband Ken took us through the upstairs and showed us a video from old movies about the logging of the old kauri trees. It was all fascinating and the best part was that it was so unexpected. So that will be an International Living postcard.

We tried to go to the lavender farm but it was closed so went on to various craft stores and found this really cool food place – all New Zealand stuff- so will go back there.

Checked out some of the liqueurs – yes taste testing is allowed at 26% alcohol! Only needed a sip!

When we got home Chris and Bryan were resting after their strenuous day of golf, so Zoze and I went to the market to get stuff for our trip that we leave on tomorrow.

We go around the eastern cape of the country and will stay in backpackers that all have double rooms and communal kitchens and are significantly less expensive than motels and hotels. Some of them sound really good and Richard, my nephew has been to one that looks really cool. All the information we have on these places show a lot of them on the beach and very inexpensive, around NZ$50 per night which works out at around $35 or so US. And as Zoze and Bryan are traveling with us on this jaunt, we need to keep things to a mild roar as they are on a very tight budget.

On a different note, I am amazed at how friendly and chatty the local people are. Our waitress this morning told us her life history and was so interested in what we do and where we were going. It’s very refreshing after the US where most people wont even look you in the eye when they talk to you. I was surprised at how much traffic there is. I’m surprised at the racial tensions that apparently exist. I’m surprised that the schools don’t have a lot of discipline, I know this because my nephew Shawn is 12 and having battles with fellow students. His Mum Jenni tells me that the swearing in the schools is terrible. So not much different from the States. Shawn will go to a private school next term.

Get pix at the shutterfly link on the left