We have now been in New Plymouth for 2 months. The similarilities with Hereford (my home town) are uncanny. I should get the 2 cities twinned.... both cities have about 60,000 people, both areas thrive on agriculture, both cities have a traffic problem, both cities have people obessed with the traffic problem with it featuring regularly in the news, both cities have a huge number of supermarkets taking into account the number of people living in the area, both areas have a pretty sorry looking high street (with a high number of pound/dollar shops) with the odd good shop combined with some scary looking people, both are cities but really are towns.....both have/had independent department stores with an ancient feel...
New Plymouth does have redeeming features though: surf beaches, amazing scenery, stunning volcano mountain [I should add here that Hereford also has some redeeming features including amazing vistas and nearby mountains - making it even more necessary to twin the two cities].... Here is the coast line of Hereford-Sur-la-Mer aka New Plymouth
Anyway, at this point I would like to show you a picture of the mountain but the weather here has been so bad I have only seen it 5 times and not had time to take a photo.... It is very impressive when it does rear its head because it is a snow topped volcano looming all by itselfon the landscape - Google it!
Even after well over a year I'm still getting used to kiwi living - the supermarket is always a worthwhile visit in any country to get a glimpse of the culture. I generally shop in Pack N Save - basically it is cheap because you have to pack your own purchases - Shock Horror!!!! Don't we do that everywhere in England without even thinking about it?
Yesterday, I photographed Nathan fitting one of his bespoke kitchens - Not just the odd picture here and there but a picture every minute for six hours - we are going to make a groovy time lapse video (pictures below show the start and the middle of the installation). If I can work out how to string it all together it should be good...watch this space!!
Anyway, to feed us up I went to a fast food outlet whose name I will not say for fear of being stoned to death by the middle classes. Instead of getting a diet coke I got a coke with no ice - language barrier. Later I then almost had a breakdown in Pack N Save because it didn't have cannelloni, riccotta or chorizo. Luckily given this is the city of a thousand supermarkets (see above) the supermarket Countdown was next door. After explaining in my best Kiwi what I was looking for the woman at the deli counter looked at me in disgust like I was requesting some contraband and she scuttled off to a big fridge which was somewhat hidden from general view. She came back with a big tub of ricotta... result!!! Such delights only available to those who know the secret code to request it so it seems.... On the plus side there are remarkably big leeks here at the moment - think the size of your arm for only 99c/50p!!!!!
Elly is just fine - crawlling and pulling herself up onto chairs/sofas/tables as well as chewing wires, finding plugs irresistable and trying tograb the laptop. She is watching Elmo on Sesame Street at the moment -that puppet is a saviour. Irratating yes but a saviour. She thinks he is hilarious. Dora the Explorer is also a favourite. She is developing a really cheeky personality! Still not sleeping at night properly though. I'll have to try and get her to sleep properly when we go back to Christchurch or I might waste away from fatigue. Here are sometings Elly likes....
Wires, laplop, modem, mirror, hoover....
In October one of my best school friends is coming to NZ on her honeymoon and I am looking forward to that - They are only here for a few days as she is lucky enough to be on a cruise from Hawaii to Sydney but on those days we are going to meet her and her new husband in Welington and then take them out on our boat in Picton on the Malborough Sounds. Luckily Elly has decided she will now co-operate with the bottle because I think there may be some alcohol consumed on those days. After that I am going to head back towards Christchurch. Speaking of Chistchurch it had a hail storm a few days ago with hail the size of golf balls.... its someone trying to destroy that place?!
What else? Well not too much because most days by the time I have worked and looked after Elly the day is over. We are in a place called Urenui about 30km from New Plymouth so it is quite a trek to get to the town - most days we fit in a walk to the beach or to the local cafe or park. Not much to report there.... Today it is hamming down with rain so I have occupied myself with cooking a rather magnificent beef wellington ready to be served this evening. Being a mum is sometimes seriously dull. No one tells you that in the books - a satisfying day is a completed load of washing and some baking.....! Working from home is hard work with Elly now demanding attention every 30 seconds but it helps keep my mind on the real world and not entirely laundry focused!!!!!
sun!
Dining Al Fresco
I got up to the laptop - YEESSSSSS!
Cut top 2 teeth too!
Nathan's job is progressing well - we have a facebook site for the business which I set up and you can see photos of the shipping container building which is well underway now on that page - The plan is to do updates every now and then when I have a moment so click here for that and like our page please!
We also went to Taupo for a weekend to see some friends which was fun - we swam in geothermal heated pools with Elly and she loved it - The girls kept Elly very amused so on one night she even slept from 7pm til 4am woohoo!!!
There is a funky art gallery in New Plymouth- It is usually a bit too alternative/sh*t for my style of art but at the moment they have this cool installation of old sewing machines with world flags and thread .... sometimes they do adult and baby sessions so I think we might try and go to one of those....
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