It’s hard to believe that it was about a week ago that I last updated my blog! I have been up to so much since then. I have been staying with my auntie and uncle (uncle has just had to nip back to the UK for 5 weeks with work) and I have been helping out with looking after their son Jack.
I have also been checking out all the sights on offer in and around Paraparaumu. There are lots of great cafes around the place with a pot of tea costing about $3. They also seem to have amazing looking cakes, especially at Robert Harris in coastlands shopping centre. However, it is very expensive out here. I took a trip to the Otaki Outlet street to look for some bargains but I had no luck – especially on my limited budget. The beach there was nice though. I am hoping to venture out towards Otaki Gorge for some Lord of the Rings tourism soon though. I have had some awesome weather recently. One day I just spent at the beach in Paraparaumu. An outdoor pool has also opened up in Waikanae which is also heated. I recommend going midday on a weekday – me and Lizzie are normally the only ones in! I have also been involving myself with the locals. I went to a Hangi the other day – a traditional Maori feast which involves cooking food underground.
I have also met a few locals through Jacks extra curricular activities such as cricket, touch rugby and swimming. It’s interesting to see how different and laid back the school system is out here – especially when it comes to health and safety. It makes you realise how crazy England has got with all of that. One of jack’s favourite lunchtime activities includes rolling old tyres around a special tyre enclosure on his school fields. They have hundreds of tyres all over the place and they can make dens out of them too. I also went to his school gala which aimed to raise money for a new play area and there were so many activities on offer including sand buggy rides, helicopter trips, Harley Davidson rides as well as the usual gala style activities. I couldn’t resist a ride on a Harley but the helicopter rides stopped early because of a fault which was a shame. The weather was awesome that day too.
Peakakariki is a nice place. Not much there but the beach is really nice and has more body boarding waves. There is also an awesome slide there which me and Lizzie had to go on! It was just in a normal kiddies play park which overlooks the beach. They have a surf club down there too.
I also ventured up towards Palmerston North or ‘Palmy’ to see some of Lizzie’s friends. They have an unbelievable park in Palmy which is extremely well kept. It even has a large paddling swimming pool for anyone to dip there feet in. The centre of town is quite large with good shops and an amazing muffin place in the indoor centre. It seems cheaper in general compared with further south. One thing about the towns in NZ is that they contain mostly low level housing and buildings which make it seem a lot less claustrophobic than the usual European high rise bustling cities. The roads are also really wide which gives the feeling of space. It is also very chilled in NZ – you don’t really see people rushing about and you don’t even see that many people!
I visited Lindale today which is famous for cheese and icecream…so i had some chocolate cake. There was a cool honey shop there which sold famous Manuka Honey (it has healing properties in and is very good for you) so Lizzie and I invested in some Manuka Tonic. We have to put half a tablespoon in some hot water and it should, in theory, give us a heathy pickup if we drink it. I think I will need it in preperation for some Taupo antics tommorow! Im traveling up there to see Laura and will venture back down with Kiwi Experience.
So anyway, that’s what i’ve been up to so far. It has involved lots of beach walking which is nice. I have got an awesome shell collection forming. Highlights so far include playing cricket on the beach at sunset, riding a Harley, Palmy Park and seeing Pukekas.
