Our Lady of Birds

We are bird feeders.

While I am the most enthusiastic feeder of the family, we all enjoy lobbing bread at the ducks and gulls that live by the pond that is on our way to the grocery store. For extreme bird feeding (this is New Zealand, after all) we go to the Auckland Domain duck pond, home to many kinds of ducks, geese, and pigeons. Here you can play tug-a-war with a goose over a stale french loaf (B's a champ at this) while the gulls yell at you for your favoritism. It was at this pond that I realized I am a pied piper of pigeons, a veritable Bird Woman straight out of Mary Poppins (without the singing).

While I tend to consider pigeons to be the rodents of the bird world (filthy, germ-ridden pests!), clearly they don't hold that against me.

Like my first experience handling snakes, the limbic/reptilian part of my brain didn't like birds landing on me and I felt like I was living in Hitchcock's The Birds, while the OCD part of my brain was busy thinking about the scaly, disgusting, salmonella-drenched feet touching my skin. Thank goodness the calm midwife part of my brain triumphed over the rest and I was able to almost enjoy the feeding frenzy.

I love the little sparrows sitting on the fence (are they sparrows? I'm a bird feeder, not a bird watcher.) Why couldn't the little sparrows gather in my lap? Then I would feel like Snow White and I would definitely sing. And, like Snow White, my singing would bring out all the rest of the local wildlife that have been hiding in the bushes, and they too would want to sit in my lap! Mammals on my lap would be glorious!

But it turns out the true Bird Woman in our family is P.

Birds flock to her like pigeons to a statue.

This one did "The Pigeon" dance just like Bert from Sesame Street.

Synchronized perching.

And for once my girlygirl daughter did not totally freak out and scream and do the wiggle-shaky dance of one-who-has-touched-a-leech when they swarmed her and landed on her head, but instead she was still and calm and happy.

(In all fairness, there is no evidence that pigeons spread disease to humans. There is a lot of evidence however, that humans tend to get overly excited about pigeons spreading diseases.)

Queen's Birthday Monday in Rotorua / Taupo

This will be a post in pictures. I was thrilled to find out that R's final weekend in NZ coincided with a national holiday here the "Queen's Birthday Monday." (For all you biking aficionados, and those who feel this blog has turned to grrly mush, know that B plans to post soon about his recent dreamy MTBing in NZ. Stay tuned.) So we climbed into our spaceship and went to Rotorua for the weekend.

Rotorua is a geothermal area where hydrogen sulphide gas is emitted from boiling mud pools and cracks in the earth's crust. The entire region smells like rotten eggs, and yet it is one of the most popular tourist destinations on the North Island.

P is not pleased about the stinky steam, although Flat K appears unaffected.
Below a burbling, boiling mud crater at Craters of the Moon.

Black swans on Lake Rotorua. On this beach you can dig a hole in the sand and it will fill with very hot water from the nearby mineral springs.

Okere falls. People not only kayak this, but go down it in large rafts. There is also Black River rafting here, which I am eager to try.

While the boys went MTBing, we went to an animal farm. Here Flat K is trying to sneak into the wallaby enclosure.

An emu, really close up.

And this is my most favorite pig ever, the Kune Kune pig (the Red River Hogs at SD zoo are a very close second). At this animal farm you can buy food for the animals, and if you rattle the bag these pigs will actually sprint over to you! Fantastic!

For a moment I thought we were going to lose Flat K to Boris, but he merely wanted to give her a snort. (hogs - not as cute as sows.)

I'll finish with more beautiful waterfalls with clear blue water. This is Huka Falls just outside Taupo.

Desperate to visit but can't afford a plane ticket?

If you have children in elementary (primary) school, or if you are a child yourself, then you know all about Flat Stanley and the Flat Stanley Project and you can just skip ahead to the photos. For the rest of you let me introduce a novel and inexpensive way to travel the world and experience swashbuckling adventures. Take the following steps:

1. Read the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. (1a become inspired to write/illustrate children's books.)
2. Create a 2 dimensional likeness of yourself. This is a variation on the project, but makes it more interesting. (Warning: this can be very revealing, both in a how-do-i-view-myself kind of way, and maybe in a naked kind of way too if you are into that, but if you are into that we do not necessarily want you to continue past #3.)
3. Laminate yourself. The world is a moist place.
4. Find an envelope and mail yourself to NZ. Email us for the preferred address.

Upon arrival, your Flat Self will accompany us on our many adventures, much like Miss Flat K did over the last two weeks:

Here is P and Flat K at the Waitangi Waka. Have you seen Whale Rider?

After climbing the ropes of this 1/5th size Endeavour reproduction, Flat K was eaten by a shark, locked in irons, and attacked by a giant lobster at the Russell Museum. She loved every minute of it.

Meet Tane Mahuta, Lord of the Forest, the largest living Kauri tree in New Zealand. He (?) is 51.5 meters high with a girth of 13.8 meters. Flat K thinks she has seen bigger trees at home.

In a pre-colonial maori village replication Flat K got to explore the special shelter where the rat food was kept as she was the only one of us that could fit inside, lucky duck!

We rented a car for our trip to the Bay of Islands, and we all agreed that Flat K was the safest driver. Since she is not used to driving in the states she doesn't suffer with the Left/Right confusion that B and I do (as everything is on the wrong side- including us- both in and outside of the car). Also, this left B free to help navigate as P and I were busy being carsick.

One of Flat K's favorite things here was the trek to school with P. Soon Flat K, along with the 473 photos we took, will be on her way back home. We will be sad to see her go, but this frees us up for another Flat Friend to sail our way!

The Hitching Post

P brought me breakfast in bed yesterday for Mother's Day, and then B made a second breakfast for all of us (including R, his mom L, and his friend Spike, all of whom are now off playing at the Bay of Islands). P and I spent the day wandering through the neighborhoods taking pictures of plaques while B went for a 50K round the city bike ride. So far this is my favorite plaque:


So you don't have to strain your eyes it reads:

Hitching - Post
Used for
Tethering horses
These posts, which were erected at convenient places throughout the city and suburbs, were in common use before the advent of self-propelled vehicles. This is one of the few survivors.
Marked by the Auckland City Council, 1944.

Under it someone wrote in the wet cement "lest we forget" (it actually looks like "l'est we forget" but that doesn't make any sense, even in French.)


While I was taking these pictures a man noticed and laughed. He explained that he has lived in this neighborhood all his life and has never noticed this plaque even though he walks past it every day. Perhaps one reaches a point of saturation when surrounded by so many plaques. Maybe I too will one day reach plaque saturation.

Horseback Birthday!

It was my birthday last weekend so we went exploring along the Pacific coast of the North Island. Our good friend R arrived at 5am on Friday which was also ANZAC Day (NZ version of Memorial Day). This meant B got the day off so we headed up the coast with the goal of spending the night here:

Goat Island Campground is a fun mix of cabins, tents, and stay-put campas. It overlooks the ocean and Goat Island Marine Reserve (below), a popular diving and snorkeling spot. It is my new goal to convince my in-laws to move here and create one of these campgrounds complete with kiddie playground and communal kitchen. If I'm lucky they will name a campa in my honor.

P and I planned to go horseback riding while the boys went snorkeling, but the weather and water did not cooperate for the boys, so they tagged along with us. They opted not to ride and instead lounged in cafe at the stables and then walked to the beach and collected seashells.

Here P and her pony head to Pakiri Beach. To get to the beach we had to ford a river and I thought P might get to swim across it with her pony (an adventure sport of its own here!), but only her feet got wet.

While the weather was not very good for snorkeling (look at those rough seas!) it was perfect for our ride. The beach was beautiful! When R returns from tramping his way through the South Island I will post some of his pictures of our horseback riding trip.

Adventures with R

Our good friend R is visiting us for the next few weeks. Last weekend we went on a road trip to celebrate. Here are some random pictures from our trip:

The owners of this sailboat are camped on the beach - lovely!

Along the roadside there are fruit stands, big and small. The best are wheelbarrows of bagged fruit on the side of the road with a bucket to put your money in!

Here is R trying his first feijoa. He was not taken with it, however he may have enjoyed it more if it were ripe and without its outer peel.

The Coast to Coast Walkway

The city of Auckland stretches over an isthmus between the Waitemata Harbor of the Pacific Ocean and the Manukau Harbor of the Tasman Sea.


Last weekend we completed the 16km Coast to Coast Walkway which takes you from one harbor across the city to the other harbor by way of several beautiful parks and historical sites. This is a popular walk and all of the guides suggest setting aside 4-6 hours to complete the walk. It took us about 7 hours as we made many long stops to ruminate with the ungulates and photograph all the monuments, plaques and statues - this is part of our continuing fascination at the sheer number of plaques in Auckland. The plaque below can be found attached to a rock under a very nice tree in the middle of Auckland Domain (domain = park). I'd like to find out why this site was chosen for this plaque as it seems a bit random, and why it took eleven years to unveil this plaque.


You can begin the walk at either harbor, but we started from the Waitemata harbor since it is so close to us. From our apartment we walked up to the University of Auckland and Albert park, then down to Auckland Domain. The walk goes through the domain and on up to Mt Eden aka Maungawhau which is the tallest volcano in Auckland. The most charming part of Auckland's parks is that many are also farms so while overlooking the city from the peak of a volcano you can discuss the majesty of it all with a friendly cow or sheep.



I made several new friends on this walk.

This cow may have been the same cow that licked B on his last trip up Mt Eden.

Hunger finally drove us from the park and we took a detour from the walkway to eat at a bakery in Mt Eden (the suburb). It is here that we lost our map and B had to backtrack to find it. P and I picked flowers and climbed trees while waiting for him to return.


From there we walked to Cornwall park where we watched the Cornwall Cricket Club compete for the world record for the longest continuous cricket match. They won the record after playing for more than 53 hours straight.


The walk continued through Cornwall park to One Tree Hill aka Maungakiekie, another volcano/park/farm.



We visited the Stardome Observatory at the base of One Tree Hill where we met some more nice lassies before winding down to the Manukau harbor.


The walk was a fantastic way to see the city and the parks. When you visit us plan an extra day or two in Auckland to do this walk or one of the coastal walks!