Is it summer yet?!

Counting down the hours until we leave for Oz, 24, to be exact. I had a bit of a scare yesterday as Tyler texted me from work, "did you know we need a visitor's visa to enter Australia?" Ummm...NO I did not!! I started googling frantically, praying that there was a fast track option and that we would be able to get them by Saturday. We never buy cancellation insurance - I was worried. But thankfully, one online form and $40 later we had our Visas. Sounds like a government tourist trap to me. But at least we still get to go! The weather in Melbourne is hot and sunny. Unlike here which is rainy, windy and foggy...still. The locals say this is unseasonal. But I am really getting tired of all the rain and grey skies. I hope December is much better (especially when our visitors arrive)! On the plus side, Tyler says his elbows have never been softer (from the humidity). Ha! No dry skin here.

From a few weeks ago...that's hail, not snow!

There have been a few (but not many) nice days. If I wasn't afraid that I would fly into the middle of the ocean, this looks like fun!

A pond in the park full of beautiful lily pads.

We found out where all those Canadian geese are migrating to...

We haven't been able to use our golf memberships as much as we like with all the rain, but we still manage to get out about once a week. Tyler is much better than me, but I can beat him the odd hole ;) We suck at putting. Like, we are really bad. I think it's because the cows are always watching us...can you see them? But honestly, every time we play we laugh because the entire golf course is surrounded by farmland and the cows are always making such weird noises - so we will blame them for our lacklustre performances.

With the weather keeping us indoors more than we would like, we've been trying new things. We went to a sushi making workshop, which was actually a lot easier than I previously thought - it's all about the rice! This week we went to the local coffee roaster to learn different at-home coffee brewing methods and got to taste their new blends (all of which were delicious). Who knew all the different ways you could brew coffee without a traditional coffee machine! And, as part of garden week a few weeks ago, we went to an art installation called "the falling rose garden." The installation contained thousands of fresh roses tied to wires from the ceiling to create the "falling" effect. It was pretty spectacular, and smelled like heaven.

Tyler's work had their annual "holiday" party already. Instead of having a Christmas party like every other company does, they have an annual Halloween party. It was awesome. No really, it was probably the best work function we've ever been to. We heard from Tyler's co-workers that this party was legendary before we even left to come to New Zealand! It definitely lived up to its reputation. Dressing up is a must (we heard they will deny entry). The theme was a "haunted house" and the entire function space was decked out with spooky decor. There were zombies handing out punch, a flashmob dancing to thriller, and creepy unrecognizable people everywhere. Halloween party success!  

Frankenstein and his bride. 

Our friends (and Tyler's boss) Brenna and her husband Joe, dressed as Mexican skulls.

Us and our friends Nicola and James dressed as creepy zombies! 

Now to finish packing...I will write a trip report when we get back from Melbourne!

October

Hi friends! It seems that I haven't posted anything in the past month. We haven't taken any weekend road trips or done anything overly "exciting" so I don't have much to share. Tyler has an ongoing operation at work so he has been on call for the past month - which means no weekend getaways for us (but lots of middle-of-the-night phone calls)!! A couple more weeks and the job should be finished, just in time for summer! So we have stayed close to home and have done some hiking, biking, gardening... trying to soak up the spring sun. Speaking of which, the weather has been pretty inconsistent lately. Rainy, windy and chilly for a few days and sunny, calm and hot the next. Hopefully summer will be more consistently warm? Below are some pictures from a few tramps we have done around Mount Taranaki. You don't have to travel far to find something beautiful and photo-worthy here!

Huge, beautiful Redwoods

Dawson Falls

The only wildlife we have ever come across while hiking, is birds...until now! A mama goat and baby goat! I think we startled them so they ran off into the bush and I couldn't get a better picture. I love that you only have to worry about running into a wild goat...no bears, deer or cougars here!

A mini stream we had to cross on the tramp.

The big stream we had to cross to get to the other side. I hate stream crossings, I always think I'm going to fall in, but never do :)

This was the fist time we have hiked on the mountain on a clear day, we were excited we could actually see it up close, it's usually covered by clouds. This view is from the other side of the mountain, about an hour East of New Plymouth - it doesn't have the perfect conical shape like our regular view, but still equally as nice.

Mount Taranaki - still lots of snow up top!

The next few pictures are of East End Beach and the Sugar Loaf Islands. This beach is in town and is so picturesque! Paritutu Rock is the large one on the right which you can climb to the top of. When we were there, there were kids sand boarding down to the beach. They were using an actual snowboard with bindings - it looked fun and probably wouldn't hurt if you wiped out! There are also seals that like to hang out on the islands and apparently at low tide you can walk out to the second island to see them. Maybe next time.

This is at Fitzroy beach, by our house. During the week when there aren't many people on the beach, you will instead find the occasional horse :)

Spring also means lots of pretty new flowers are blooming! I have no idea what any of them are called but they look nice and smell good :) There is a garden festival on right now where private and public gardens are on display. We have checked out a couple and they are pretty amazing!

Fields of ____? on our bike ride.

Who says flowers are just for girls?!

While we don't have many flowers in our garden, the vegetables are starting to grow! You really don't need a green thumb to grow things here. Just plant a seed and it will grow, minimal watering or care required. It's great because I really don't know what I am doing! The lettuce and herbs have taken off but we are still waiting patiently for the root vegetables and tomatoes. The only pests have been snails which like to eat anything and everything. I think I have gotten rid of them for now!

Yummy lettuce

More mint than I know what to do with! Mojito anyone?

Sneaky snail!

November should be a quiet month as we don't have a lot planned. We will be getting ready for a couple of trips and company in December. We are going to Melbourne for a week at the beginning of the month and then Tyler's family is coming here for a Kiwi Christmas! We are so excited they are coming but it will definitely be weird having a hot Christmas with no snow. Beaches instead of skiing, lamb instead of turkey? I guess it doesn't sound that bad :)

Waterfalls and a tea farm

This past weekend we went to Raglan and Hamilton which are both about three hours north of New Plymouth - it seems that every place we want to visit is at least three hours away. Oh well, we get to see the countryside this way, including lots of baby sheep :) Raglan is a small, very cute coastal town that offers world-class surfing; probably the best in New Zealand. Unfortunately the weather wasn't that great while we were there, but we hope to go back in the summer for some proper surfing lessons! We planned to stay two nights in Raglan, but one night in a not-so-nice rental house with a cockroach and what sounded like a tsunami warning alarm at two am, proved to be enough for us. So off to Hamilton we went, very early, the next morning. On the way we took a detour to see Bridal Veil falls. Only a ten minute walk through rainforest like trees and we arrived at the spectacular waterfalls. And the best part? We were the only ones there! 

Through the jungle we go!

Tyler always has to stop to read all the signs. Typical.

Can you spot Tyler?!

The waterfall. It was really amazing. Partially because we were the only ones there and we felt like we had this whole stunning place to ourselves. Also, everything is so green and lush and beautiful already - the waterfall is just the cherry on top!

Waterfall selfie ;)

Striking a pose.

Can you see me?!

Walking down just a few stairs to check out the view from the bottom.

View from the bottom. Just as good as from the top!

One last look.

The view leaving Raglan on our way to Hamilton.

Just outside Hamilton is New Zealand's one and only tea farm (or planation) called Zealong. There is one tea plantation in Australia and none in North America, most being in Asia. So I figure this is probably the only one we will ever go to! We are both big tea drinkers but are really quite clueless about where it comes from, how it's made, etc. so we found the tour quite informative and interesting. Zealong claims the reputation of the "worlds purest tea" as it's organic, hand picked, and accredited in  world leading food safety standards that no other tea farm in the world is. Right now they make three kinds of oolong tea and one black tea.

The traditional Chinese tea making process.

Garden teapot!

Oolong translates into "black dragon" in Chinese.

Rows and rows of tea plants. 

Those are the tea leaves your tea comes from!

Tyler enjoying a traditional Taiwanese tea ceremony.

We bought the black tea to bring home. Although the oolong was good, it wasn't really our thing. Too earthy for me. And who knew pure tea could be so expensive?! My only regret was not staying for high tea. Next time...the little sandwiches and sweets looked delicious.

Lake Taupo and the end of winter

It was so nice to go back home to Calgary to enjoy a few weeks of summer while the weather was wet and cold(ish) here. We had such a great time visiting all of our friends and family. I think we will try to visit home in August every year. Now it is officially Spring here in New Zealand, hooray! The days are getting longer and I don't have to turn the heat on during the day anymore. We still have to "pre-heat" the bed before we get in, so I guess we're not officially in the clear yet. Now that the overnight temperatures are mild, we have planted our first vegetable garden! We planted lettuce, beets, carrots, tomatoes, onions, blueberries, and a variety of herbs. Fingers crossed we get to eat something. Next up is a lemon tree and lavender, but we will see how this garden goes first!

So far this spring weather we're having is great. Daytime temperatures have been reaching 17 degrees and the sun is shining! We have got a couple rounds of golf in, and have already been offered free golf lessons. The golf course manager said if we take the lessons we can play unlimited golf until the end of January for $125. So free lessons and practically free golf. Umm... where do I sign up?! Some of the spring flowers are in full bloom and everything is so green and looking pretty. If this is what spring is looking like I can't wait to see what's in store for summer!

My favourite golf course. Look at that view!

Magnolia trees are in full bloom and are everywhere!

Beautiful magnolias.

Spring gardens

Fitzroy beach, a short stroll down the street.

Horse on the beach!

Enjoying a Sunday morning beach stroll

I just have to say, one of my favourite things about spring is all the baby sheep. They are SO cute! They are so playful and are constantly running around and jumping on each other. 

Babies with their mamas. I wish I took more pictures!

We planned to go skiing this past weekend but there has been a lot of rain and the conditions didn't seem very good, so we might have missed our opportunity this year. So we decided to drive to Lake Taupo instead to check out the town, more geothermal activity, and of course ride our bikes! The lake is the largest in all of New Zealand and offers lots of water activities but unfortunately it was a rainy weekend so we didn't get out on the lake. We instead got lost on our bikes, and ended up on a six hour wet and muddy (and at times not-so-fun) excursion. Apparently they don't do a very good job of marking the bike trails in Taupo, fyi. We managed to get back just before sunset, which is a miracle, as I don't know how we would have ever found our way out of that trail system in the dark! We did however get to see a few cool things on our ride.

Steamy rivers

Mystical forest trails! 

Huka Falls. The picture doesn't do the falls justice, they were pretty amazing.

The next day we decided to take in the sights and go on a geothermal walk (I refused to go on another bike ride)! We went to Craters of the Moon, which was an hour long walk through steamy rivers and giant craters filled with bubbling mud. Walking through the steam was really warm and had a faint smell of rotten eggs. I can't imagine it's very good for you to inhale that for too long! There were huge geo-thermal energy plants in Taupo. Geothermal energy provides around 13% of New Zealand's energy supply and is the country's most reliable renewable energy source as it isn't dependent on weather (unlike solar, wind or hydroelectricity).

Crater selfie

Bubbling mud!

Great Lake Taupo

 I love that there are so many un-manned food/produce/flower stands in New Zealand. The farmers will leave whatever they are selling at the stand with a box for you to put your money in. Very trustworthy! This stand had eggs. Yes, non-refrigerated. I think eggs in the fridge must be a North American thing as the grocery stores here even sell the eggs off the shelf!

Fresh egg stand