We drove from Tongariro National Park south to Ramati Beach. On the way we stopped at Bulls, NZ, which had some great signs and made us chuckle, a town where they were having a gumboot festival, a small town that if you blinked you'd miss, but they had wool items that were gorgeous, Foxton and Foxton Beach that had a windmill in town- Dutch- and many many farms where sheep and cattle grazed on the rolling hills. Gorgeous drive and we are happy to report- uneventful. We arrived at my cousin, Jan's house around 4 pm. She and her husband, now deceased, had built this home about 15 years ago on the property where they had had a summer home. It was very beautiful with wide open rooms and doors and windows that bi-folded open, so the entire room felt connected to the outdoors. They don't have many mosquitos to worry about.
Jan had appetizers waiting for us and then a huge lamb roast, roasted vegetables and he traditional New Zealander dessert of pavlova with fruit and cream. Pavlova is like a meringue- egg whites and sugar. She also made a chocolate mousse. We looked at family photos and read letters sent by my parents years ago after their visit.
March 5
On Sunday on our way to Wellington we stopped at Kapiti Gallery where Jan's work was hung and David Reeve's work was showing. David was the cartographer for the Lord of the Rings movies. Such fun to see. That totals thus far two artists we have had contact with who had something to do with these movies. Then on to Wellington where we went around the entire harbor from one side to the other. We went to some art galleries on the harbor and then toured Zealandia, which is a nature reserve in the middle of the city. We saw some native birds of New Zealand- the Tui, Pekabu, wood pigeon, and many three eyed native tuatara lizards. They were ugly and scary with a majority of their teeth on the lower level. I have all those photos on my other camera. These are all from my iPhone. If Mom and Dad get hungry and they can't find food, they eat their young!!
We then drove to Lower Hutt and met Jan's daughter and family. Both Lauren and Tim are educators, so we talked a lot about schools, policies, issues etc. it was Lauren's birthday so we shared some cake with Lauren, Tim, Jonathan and Alastair Griffin.
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