Weekend Beach Trip

This past weekend was another public holiday weekend, meaning everyone from around here was off to celebrate Auckland Anniversary Day.  I was a bit confused over why Hamilton would be celebrating the foundation of Auckland, but I decided okay, if they want this as another excuse to have a holiday I am all for that.  Curiosity later got the best of me, and I had to find out why in the world this was a holiday.  A bit of research later, and I discovered that it is actually a day celebrated on the Monday closest to January 29th in celebration of the formation of the Auckland Province.  That made a bit more sense to me being that Hamilton would have been part of what was the Auckland Province.  Satisfied with my discovery, I was able to happily do what everyone else around here was doing...heading to the beach!!

That's right, it's summer and a holiday weekend.  Remember what I have said before about kiwis and holidays?  They make for the beach.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and we decided to head out for sand and sun!!  We had originally discussed heading out to the Coromandel Peninsula, but it was decided we would save that for a day when we could leave out at 5 o'clock in the morning due to me wanting to stop every couple of kilometers to take pictures.  I browsed a map trying to decided where I wanted to go, and I finally decided on Waihi, which is on the east coast.  We packed the car and away we went! 

After arriving in Waihi, Ben said, "Here or do you want to keep going and head up to Whangamata?"  We made a quck trip to Waihi when I was in NZ back in June, so of course I wanted to go where I have not been before.  A short, but very curvy drive later, and I was pleased by the site of an artsy little beach town!  We made our way through town and found a beach access spot that wasn't crowded.  By beach access, I mean driving down a street and parking at the edge of someone's yard and walking down the beach path.  This beach is much more easily accessible than our little west coast hidey hole, there is no stream to cross, and the path is actually marked so you're not blindly wandering around some Mr. Random Farmer's land.

Here are a few pictures of the path down to the beach.

And here is the lovely view we were greeted by!

Sadly, we were not the only people on this beach.  It was "crowded" according to Ben.  He of course was grumbling about "all the people".  Here's how "crowded" it was.

I will admit, I too started grumbling when this annoying little group settled within 30 yards of us.  I couldn't figure out why they chose to come to our little section and play Impress My 12 Year Old Girlfriend With My Football Skillz.  Yes, that was an example of the not so nice things Ben and I uttered as the two guys kicked and tossed the football in an attempt to look cool while wearing muscle shirts.  I really wanted to tell them that they lost cool points because they were wearing those shirts, but I didn't.  We were happy when they decided to leave 45 minutes after arriving.  :D

We continue to nap and sun in peace after their departure, and I am pleased to report...there was no sunburns associated with this trip!  My ankle is finally recovering from our last beach excursion.  I missed a couple of areas, and I ended up looking like I had a horrid run in with self tanner.  I was blotchy with dark patches here and there.  I giggled every time I looked at my feet and ankles, but I'm glad to be uniformed in color now.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get a bit more sun time in before our little one makes her arrival and the summer comes to an end.

I hope everyone back home is having a great week, and I will update again soon. The rest of my week will be low key, and then we'll be getting ready for our trip to Australia next week.  My camera is charged and ready to go!  Until next time, everyone take care and stay safe with the weather headed your way! XoXo

"THE Incident"

I've been in my new home for a little over a month now, and so far, settling in has been going great.  I know everything I have written about so far has been on the positive side, but there have been hiccups along the way.  Hiccups are to be expected, right?  Of course they are, it's what makes life funny..well, not at that moment, but in hindsight at any rate.  Looking back, I'm having a laugh right now as I think about what Ben has started referring to as "THE Incident".

I had started thinking about things like, food in general (thanks Pinterest)...which in turn lead me to thinking about grilled chicken, which in turn made me start thinking about side dishes for grilled chicken.  Side dishes...hmmm...potato salad!!  Yes, and potato salad has pickled relish in it.  Pickled relish, oh I needed that, because then I could make tuna salad, egg salad, deviled eggs, and chicken salad...you can see how my train of thought quickly derailed and honed in on the pickled relish and all things surrounding it.  Needless to say, I spent the rest of the afternoon fantasizing contemplating all the wonderful things I could do with one jar of pickled relish. 

Fast forward a few hours... My amazingly wonderful dear hubby walked through the door after he got off work, and announced he was going to the market.  I nearly squealed with delight!  He asked THE question I wanted to hear "Do you need anything?"  Why yes, yes I did.  I looked at him with eyes full of hope (much like a child as they sit on Santa's lap and whisper their Christmas wish list) and said, "Do y'all have pickled relish here?" He was thoughtful for a minute and then proceeded to tell me how they have aaaaaallll kinds of relish here.  Yes, that's great...but that did not answer the question of if New Zealand has pickled relish.  I tried again..."ummmhmmm...do you have pickled relish?" He looked at me and said, "What do you mean by pickled relish?"

I quickly realized that we were about to have some cultural difference issues, and decided that I would personally oversee the purchase of  the relish.  I told him it was okay, I would check it out when I went, and requested a Milky Bar instead.  Milky Bars are basically white chocolate bars, and it was just what I needed since my relish dreams were smashed for the moment.  One Milky Bar and a couple of days later, I had all but forgotten my pickled relish infatuation. 

Life continued on, and I found other things to obsess fixate occupy my time.  The weekend rolled around, and we did our normal errands like, grocery shop.  We were fighting the crowd and participating in buggy wars, and I had still not thought about my beloved relish...until we walked past chicken.  You guessed it...the wheels in my brain started turning, and everything in my head stopped and immediately returned to zeroing in on pickled relish.  I became possessed...must have pickled relish NOW!!!  So, we immediately went to where all things relish was located.

I happily pranced up to the shelf, and I surveyed the many different types of relish.  Nope...no dill pickled relish...no sweet pickled relish...no cucumber pickle relish of any kind.  I was slightly disheartened, but hey, it's okay...I'm from Alabama...I can improvise!!  I can dice up my own dill pickles!  Problem solved!  I march myself down to the pickle section, with Ben in tow helping me search, and I see all kinds of pickled vegetables.  The one thing I did not see was dill pickles.  How can New Zealand NOT have dill pickles?!?!?!  I was heartbroken!! 

I start to rant and mutter about not having dill pickles, and who eats stupid gherkins...much less bread and butter gherkins, and come to think of it, why are their no dill gherkins, does New Zealand not know what dill is?  Ben was wanting to know what's wrong and what did I mean by a dill pickle.  Ummm...you know, a pickle that is dill flavor...NOT bread and butter and NOT a gherkin.  "A pickled what?" he asks.  Apparently, we were having a cultural difference, but I was too distraught to notice, or care. "A CUUUU-CUM-BER!"  At this point, I noticed that I was on the verge of becoming irrational and I just wanted to go before I started crying in the middle of the grocery store. 

Ben, bless his heart, was trying his hardest to help me out, and he continued to look for pickles.  I was becoming more agitated by the second because I knew it was futile...all of my hopes and dreams were ruined, and all I wanted to do was bawl my eye balls out.  "I don't want them, they're not here, let's go home." He looked at me like I had lost my mind, and I had...I wanted pickles, they weren't there, and I have pregnancy hormones running through my blood stream...need I say more?  He continued to look and explain to me that it helps when I clearly describe to him what it is I'm searching for.  My irrational emotions make it harder to contain my tears, and none of this is what I want to hear at the moment, so I do like any woman, and quickly repeat that "I want to go home" before saying nothing. 

He finally gives up on the pickles, and we make our way through the rest of our shopping with me replying "no" to everything he asks from that point forward.  The ONLY thing I wanted was dill pickles, and they did not have them.  I managed keep my composure, and we got in the car to head home.  At this point, I'm still not speaking because I know how silly it is that I'm this upset by the pickles, but there's nothing I can do about it.  I just wanted to go home and wallow in my sorrow.  Poor Ben, he just wouldn't give up, and he pulled into a Mediterranean specialty store to see if they had them.  I knew from the moment I saw what type of store it was...there were not going to be any pickles, and I was not going to be any happier about the whole situation.  After my knowledge was confirmed, we then once again, made our way home.

Once we got to the house, I was finally able to console myself.  I sprawled across the bed and cried before having a nap.  4 1/2 hours later, I woke up feeling a bit better.  I had a little more sense about me, and went to the source of all knowledge...Google!!  If there were dill pickles to be had in New Zealand, Google would know!!  Apparently, this has been a topic of interest from others that moved over, and I did manage to find a couple of recommendations as to where they might be carried...including an American specialty store in Auckland.  Ben, checked them out online, but unfortunately, they don't have online shopping.  It's okay, we're headed to Auckland in a couple of weeks, and if I have not found pickles by then, I will be checking them out while we're there!

So, there you have it....the story of my temporary insanity and my unsuccessful quest for dill pickles in New Zealand.  My Momma had to hear this story shortly after it happened.  She did NOT make me feel better...she laughed at me, and then she told my Granny.  I found out about Granny knowing when I called to see how she was doing, and after exchanging pleasantries, she said, "So, tell me...how are the dill pickles in New Zealand?"  She immediately cracked up laughing. 

Now, every time I say something positive about New Zealand, I'm quickly informed of how tasty the pickles are back home...LOL  I can get a laugh out of it now, and I think someone in my family is going to take pity of me and ship me some.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I find them here, but if anyone wants to send pickles my way, I'm willing to provide my address! :D  Until next time...everyone take care and eat a few dills in my honor!!

Catching Up...New Year's

New Year's has come and gone, and I hope so far that everyone is off to a great start!  My New Year began a bit different than what I'm use to.  For starters, it's summer here in New Zealand.  Secondly, I live less than 30 miles from the beach.  You guessed it, Ben and I made like good little kiwis and departed Hamilton in search of sand and surf.  It didn't take us long to find it, and we managed to find a spot away from the rest of civilization.

See this...this was what it looks like on the ride to our secluded hidey hole...oh, and the white dots amongst the green are sheep.

After parking and hiking walking down to the beach, we were rewarded by the fact that we were the only people there!  That's one of the perks of the west coast...it's not as touristy as the east coast.  FYI...touristy does NOT mean like Panama City during Spring Break.

This is the view I had while sprawled out in all my preggo glory...

For the record, those waves are no joke.  That particular day, the waves were around the 7 foot mark with 3 seconds between.  I kept to being a beached whale for the most part...it was an actual workout to be in the water, and I don't particularly like waves that go over my head when I'm standing waist deep.

There's a quick look at the wave size...this pic will probably be gone, and I'll probably be choked once Ben realizes I've used him for demonstration purposes!! :D :D  Hi, honey!!!

Anyhoo...back to the beach...  The water is a lot more chilly than it is down on the Gulf Coast.  I shivered a bit when I got in, but it was great compared to the hot sand.  I'm sure it comes as no surprise to learn that the black sand is in fact rather toasty.  It's got iron in it, so yeah, it holds quite a bit of heat.  The bright side to that, it felt amazing to have the warmth of it under your back with the cool breezes blowing off of the ocean.  It didn't take long for me to fall fast asleep...and wake up blistered.

Sunscreen is a must down here.  I don't mean apply SPF 30 or 40 once and you're set....I mean you better reapply hourly.  NZ has the highest melanoma rate in the world because of the extreme UV rays here. (thanks to the hole in the ozone layer being over us).  People are advised to "Slip, Slop, Slap, and Wrap".  Slip on long sleeved protective clothing, slop on at least SPF 30, slap on a hat, and use wrap around shades.  That's my public service announcement on sunscreen, now back to my story...

Being blistered wasn't so much fun, and it cut into our scheduled beach time for New Year's Day.  After waking from our naps, we packed up, headed home, and crashed hard.  We were sound asleep before midnight, and didn't get to enjoy being the first country to ring in 2013...LOL!!  The next day, we were lazy around the house and tried not to move too much.  We didn't have black eyed peas, greens, or cornbread...come to think of it, I'm not even sure if I can get black eyed peas here!  We'll see how my luck holds out this year.  It may be that I have my Momma ship black eyed peas to me, and I'll start a new tradition here in NZ next year!

So, there you have it, my first New Year in my new country!  My year is looking great so far, and we still have a lot to come!! :D

Catching Up...Boxing Day & The Belly Excuse

That's right....I said Boxing Day, celebrated on December 26th.  I'm pretty sure you're having the same reaction that I had the first time I heard about Boxing Day.  I couldn't help but think, "Sheesh...a whole day devoted to the sport of boxing?!  Mike Tyson fans much..."  (for the record...I don't think NZ is all to keen on Mike, considering they banned him from entering...click here to read more.)  

Okay, okay, back on point.  What exactly is Boxing Day?  Well, there's two theories as to its origins.  The first theory is that back in the day, servants had to work Christmas, but were given the day after off in order to celebrate with their families.  The servant's employers would present them with gift boxes on the day after...hence the term Boxing Day.  The second theory is that the collection boxes in churches were opened up, and the proceeds were distributed to the poor on the day after Christmas.  Today, it's like Black Friday, except you don't have to request off work because it's a public holiday!!  Oh, little side note here...Boxing Day isn't just celebrated in NZ.  Canada, Australia, and the UK all celebrate BD, too.

We got up bright and early, just like everyone else that hadn't participated in the mass exodus to the beach, and prepared to go shopping.  We didn't hit the "early bird" specials, but instead we waited and hit the shops around noon-ish.  The traffic was insane, and there was nowhere to park.   The Base. (one of the malls) has this nifty little feature telling how many parking spots are available.  Well...there weren't many, and everyone was having to park out in the middle of nowhere.  

Security was directing traffic, blocking roads and areas that were full, and indicating where you needed to go to park.  We WERE being directed to the great abyss, but what did Ben do?  He decided to use my bulging belly to get us closer.  Yep, he pulled right up to Mr. Security Guard and said something along the lines of  "My darling is pregnant, is there any way you can get us closer?"  Mr. Security laughed and said "Yeah, she has had a bit too much Christmas pudding!  Go right over there, and we'll get you in."  We ended up with front row parking!!  

I was really thankful for the great spot once the rain set in.  To be honest, I was really grateful I didn't have to waddle any further than necessary...I had shopping to do and couldn't be bothered expending all my energy navigating the parking lots trying to get to the mall!!  Let me rephrase that, I thought I had shopping to do.  It turns out, after visiting nearly every store at The Base, we went home with 1 purchase.  That's right...it took 5 hours to find one thing to buy, AND it wasn't even on sale!!!!  

In summary, Boxing Day was spent fighting traffic and crowds just to NOT get a good deal.  Sounds about right huh?  It wasn't a complete waste though...we did manage to get a great laugh out of the parking arrangement....and yes, after 5 hours of walking around that place, I was even more grateful to have the awesome parking spot.  Thanks again, Mr. Security Man!! :D

Catching Up...Christmas

Between Christmas, New Year, and Ben taking vacation, I got a bit behind on my updates, so it's time to play catch up!  First, I hope that everyone back home had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I know the weather there was rough over Christmas, but thankfully, everyone I know made it through safely.

Christmas here was lovely.  The weather was rather warm, and it was the first time since my arrival that I had found myself wishing for air conditioning (I have wished for the AC a total of 2, maybe 3 times).  Generally, the temperature is cooler and lacks the Alabama humidity.  There's usually a breeze here, and the houses have tons of windows to let the air circulate.  As long as the temp stays like it is, I think I'll fare well...we'll see how it goes as summer progresses.

We went to Ben's mom's on Christmas Day.  Being that it is summer here, the food was lighter than it is back in Bama.  We did have ham, but we had salads and stuff for sides.  That's right...no dressing, no dumplings, no homemade mac n' cheese.  I'm not complaining because everything was yummy!  Desserts were different too.  We had lemon cheesecake and a ginger kiss log.  Ginger kisses are cakey cookies with cream sandwiched between them...think smaller, but thicker Little Debbie's Oatmeal Cream Pies with ginger cookies instead of the oatmeal cookies.  They're pretty tasty on their own, but they were soaked in some kind of juice and covered in fresh cream!!!

Yeah, don't even get me started on the fresh cream here.  It's way better than the homemade whipped cream back there...some of you have heard me obsess over the cream after my visit last June...it was responsible for my weight gain, and I didn't even care! :D  Okay, as you can see, I get carried away at the mere mention of the stuff, and I need to get back on track..  Yes, the ginger kiss log was amazing, but the lemon cheesecake was DIVINE!!!  It had a custardy consistency, and OMG...I think I ate half of it...no joke.  Ben's mom sent most of it home with us, and I think he saw a few bites.  I didn't cut slices, I grabbed a fork and pulled it out of the fridge.  It was sooo good.  No, I didn't feel bad about how much of it I ate either.  I'm preggo...yeah, that's a good excuse!! :D

So, after over eating, opening pressies, and visiting, we made it back home to open presents.  No, we did not open them Christmas morning, nor did we open them Christmas Eve.  On Christmas Eve I was having blood work drawn, and then we were still out shopping for presents.  Procrastination is not a good thing when it comes to Christmas shopping....it won't happen next year!

That was my first Christmas in New Zealand...relaxed and laid back.  Did I miss everyone and the traditions back home?  You bet I did!!  I would be a liar if I tried to say I didn't.  I missed the spaghetti tradition at Paw-Paw's and Mrs. Lady's cakes, I missed elbowing my way around the counter at Granny's to fix my plate and I missed picking off the ham every time I walked by it.  I missed my Momma's dressing, grumbling about rather or not there were eggs in the dumplins, and the general chaos mixed with a bit of traditional family drama during the holidays.  On a bright note, I'm guaranteed to get eggs put in the dumplins every time we come there..win for me!!!  Take that my dear picky eater cousins!! :P

I did call up and talk to everyone at my Granny's on Christmas.  They played pass the phone, and then I got ignored, and I was finally hung up on because it was time to eat.  Yes, I felt totally missed...LOL!!  I also got to see pics...of the HAM!!  I'm still waiting on Cassidy to upload more.  Cassidy, I hope you see this, I'm calling you out!!

With that being said, I'm out for now.  I'll post more soon...there is still quite a bit to catch up on!  XoXo