It's a zoo out there...

Today, I have a guest blogger: Husband!
Enjoy ...

"My turn to comment for a change, and let the Trouble and Strife have a break - especially since I took all the photos!

Sunday morning had arrived and the kids were being right little monsters, driving their mother and I Krazy, with a K not a C; )

I decided we need to get out of the house and as the only person in the family who has not been to the Auckland Zoo, voted that we go. Much to C's. disgust ('I've already been there') and H's delight ('I've already been there and it's awesome!')
I think B. thought she was dreaming, especially since I didn’t feel like battling dungeons and dragons and other monsters (aside from the kids that is).

As you can see by the photos that B. has chosen, we had a great time at the Auckland Zoo, apart from how bloody expensive food is! Next time we will pack a lunch! $7 just for a small hamburger or sandwich!!!!
Well, we still managed to enjoy the day and see all of the animals (apart from the penguins, much to H's disappointment.) Her exact words were: "Mumma it's not fair, we didn’t get to see them last time either!!! NOT FAIR!" at the top of her little lungs.

I hope B. puts the pics of the piggies and C. in, cause did they stink or what! And C. was really offended with the smell, hahaha payback for his stinky bott bott!

I do think that there was a very sad part to the trip, being Janie the chimp. One of four chimps brought to the zoo in the 1950s, Janie was used for tea parties with visitors until attitudes to animals finally changed, in 1964.

The last of the tea party chimps Bobbie, died in 2004 and Janie has been on her own, ever since. They can't introduce another chimpanzee due to her age and the fact she is fairly domesticated and couldn't survive with other chimps. She has a toy mobile phone, and get lots of attention from staff, but still : Just the look on her face gave me a lump in the throat, and still does."

Janie the chimp

The Little Dude soon forgot to be bored

Missy Moo enjoyed showing off "her" zoo

What's that stench?

Oh, that's disgusting!

Stinky piggy

Otter goes fishing

Meerkat: "Yeah, I'm looking at you. You got a problem with that?"

Lemurs at lunch

"We like to move it move it" sang H.

Servils grooming each other

There were two-legged animals at the zoo as well!

It would never happen back home...

In the ‘It Would Never Happen Back Home’ category, comes this ad I spotted on our local New World supermarket community noticeboard recently.
As I’ve mentioned before, possums are pests here. You can even buy clothes and toys made out of their fur. (Husband has a pair of soft, warm gloves – the traitor!)
The furry creatures are so reviled here, that on a kids' TV show the other day, one of the tasks in a competition was for them to shoot cardboard possum targets. The child who shot the most number of possums won. Kids shooting and killing animals – two taboos in one!

New Zealand is funny like that.
For example, there’s The Edge radio station/Burger King's current campaign, which touts BK as a perfect hangover cure. On Fridays, they give away $50 vouchers for BK to callers with the best stories of what they’ll be getting up to on the weekend, making them most deserving of hangover food. Radio stations glamourising drinking? Look out!
And finally, our school is having a fundraiser this week. It’s a bingo and auction night, but not as we know it. No, this one is dubbed “Blingo” and is hosted by an Auckland Drag Queen with the unusual name of Ms Beaver Brown.
I mean could you imagine the outcry if this happened in a Queensland school? I’m sure The Courier Mail would be in an outrage!
But Kiwis are delightfully relaxed about these things.
Speaking of relaxed, the kids gave Husband and I a late anniversary present on Saturday by allowing us a sleep-in. They got up quietly and watched breakfast telly by themselves, without fighting or destroying the kitchen once. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer start to the weekend.
It was another wet and cold Auckland day, so we decided on a Doona Day. While the family watched telly or played computer games, I pottered around the kitchen, making the family anniversary dinner we’d been too tired to cook the night before: Roast pork belly with just a hint of hoi sin, warm green bean salad, roast potato and pumpkin, and earth gems. Nigella, eat your heart out!
“But Mumma, it’s not dinner time,” protested H. when she came to help. However, she soon came around to the idea of dinner for lunch! (Roast pork is one of her favourite meals).
I have no idea what earth gems actually are. Even the company’s website doesn’t quite explain, describing them as the “Jewel of the Incas”, and “the ideal nourishing vegetable.” They liken the taste to that of baby beetroot.
After a light boiling, they tasted more like an apply potato to us … but they were pretty nice with the roast.
Sunday dawned sunny and warm, so we took the kids to the fabulous Auckland Zoo.
That’s a blog for another day, so in the meantime I will leave you with a link to the inaugural Auckland High Heels-A-Thon (Warning: Lots of photos of men in high heels). This was held just up the road from our place, but in typical NZ style, I didn’t know it was on until it was over! The charity run had categories for Men, Women and Drag Queens, and was clearly a very colourful event.
Each team coughed up $250 for Kids Can, Telethon’s Big Night In charity for 2009.
Hats off to them, from someone who has enough trouble walking in high heels, let alone running in them!

H. was happy to help, once she realised roast pork was on the menu!

Warm bean and mushroom salad

H. made a face with her food! Roast pork hair, green bean eyebrows and mouth, roast potato eyes and apple sauce nose.

Earth gems before cooking

And lightly boiled

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehn, goodbye....or Haere rā in Maori

All good things come to an end, and this week our friends flew back to Brisbane.
Luckily, not before we had time to do some more eating, drinking and exploring!
On Sunday night, we walked to a popular local pub called The Drake, for their two-for-one Sunday night feeds.
The Drake apparently used to be waterfront in the old days, before the area was reclaimed for Victoria Park and surrounds.
They don't serve kids' meals, but the waitress immediately offered to split two adult serves of fish and chips between the kids. They tore into their meals without delay and pronounced the food: Lovely. High praise indeed from the picky Rugrats!
The adult boys took the opportunity to sample a selection of NZ beers and ales, while the grown-up girls were far more sedate and stuck to cider.
We shared a couple of platters, which contained mouthwatering morsels like char sui pork belly, filo prawn twisters, and crab bites. All delicious! The only problem was there wasn't enough of it. (We can be greedy like that!)
The following evening, R. took the opportunity to cook a huge roast dinner. Now R. is an extremely talented chef, so this was indeed a treat. I felt guilty, watching a typical Auckland sunset, chatting, and nursing a glass of wine, as R. wielded his magic in the kitchen. And the results were delicious: Pepper and garlic roast beef, Yorkshire puddings, roasted Kumara, potato, peas, corn, and gravy made from scratch. Sigh.
Later, we shared a box of naughty goodies which L. picked up at The Bakeshop in Ponsonby.
Did I mention, L. has regularly tidied and cleaned, and R. has watched the kids while we she and I have gone shopping? I wish they could have moved in and stayed permanently.
And so do the kids.
The day the family left, the kids were miserable, especially H. "My life is boring now I only have C. to play with," she wailed.
Luckily, their distress didn't last too long. Because when it was time to drop them at school, we were met at the gate by shivering teachers. hovering under umbrellas.
Builders (our school is growing every week) had accidentally blown up a mains fuse, and the school had no electricity - meaning no heating, lights or phones.
They were sending home as many students as possible, due to the extreme cold. And because I work from home (damn!) mine could come back with me.
But I honestly couldn't have had it on my conscience to leave them there. It was a typical Auckland morning, freezing and rainy, and we were all shivering by the time we made it back to the car.
An unexpected day off school is like winning the lottery when you're a kid, so a day at home helped ease the loss of their mates - at least a little bit.
And finally, Husband and I celebrated nine years of happily wedded bliss this week. Okay, not all of it was blissful - this is real life after all, and bringing up small humans, not to mention producing them, can be extremly painful. But we are very happy together, and I struck gold the day I met him (even if he does hog the duvet.)
We don't have a babysitter at the moment, so instead of dinner, I met Husband for a delicious seafood lunch in Ponsonby while the kids were at school. (Scampi linguini, caprese salade, and a glass of Marlborough Pinot Gris. Divine.)
Tonight, we enjoyed a quiet night in, but we're hoping to do something fun as a family to celebrate on the weekend.
After all, isn't that what you do if you're a couple of old marrieds?

Beer-tasting at The Drake

Cider

Platters to share

Another Auckland sunset

R. wielding his magic in the kitchen. Even more impressive, as the Sky Tower appears to be growing out of his back!

The kids tuck in

Mmm ... Yorkshire puddings

Hungry anyone?

Dessert

Cute bikkies for the kids.

A little bit fruity

What is it about Kiwis and their penchant for rude-shaped fruit, vegies and stones?
Hot on the heels of the penis stone and genital-shaped grapefruit, the latest ‘What The?’ item for sale on TradeMe is this delightfully-shaped Man Orange.
I don’t know about you, but whenever I go shopping, the fruit and vegies are always disappointingly normal. Maybe I’m just shopping in the wrong place?
Never mind, at least the selection of produce available here is always interesting.
The other day, we tried some Apricot Delight Yams. You can also buy Red Yams, and Mellow Yellow yams. I had to look up the Halfords website to find out how to cook them, and roasted them with honey and garlic. Next time, I’d leave out the honey, as they were quite sweet already. They’re crunchy and light, kind of like a savoury apple I guess. Would do well with other vegies as part of a Sunday Roast.
In other news, a neighbourhood cat has taken to visiting us. Since we can’t have pets of our own here, we’re quite okay with it. She walks past, meows, and if we open the door she comes inside and makes herself at home.
Sometimes she’ll stay for a sleep on H’s bed – much to her delight!
She’s never hungry and thirsty so is obviously well cared for – or maybe she has a host of families in the complex that she drops in on.

We don't mind. In the abscence of our own pet, we're quite happy to share!
Kitty visitor makes herself at home or H's bed
And our lounge

Roast yams

This is what they look like when they are raw

Aussies in Auckland hit the road

Guess what?
After last week’s massive Fiordland earthquake, New Zealand is now closer to Australia!
Yes, the 7.8 magnitude earthquake was the country's largest shake for nearly 80 years, and caused hundreds of years worth of changes in just seconds. The result? Puysegur Point, at the southwest tip of the South Island, is now 300mm closer to Australia.
Te Anau moved 100mm, Bluff moved 30 millimetres, Alexandra, by 20mm, and Dunedin, by 10mm. Christchurch also has believed to have shifted towards Oz, but only slightly.
I wonder if that means a reduction in airfares are in order?
And finally, here are the photos from our recent sightseeing jaunt:


Waiwera, where a Southern Right Whale and her calf have been frolicking recently. Sadly, they weren't there, but it was beautiful anyway.

North Island scenery

C. cut his leg on some barnacles. Yes, it did hurt!

C. dramatically collapses in agony as a rain squall closes in...

Stepping stones at Goat Island Marine Reserve

Simply breathtaking. Goat Island Marine Reserve

No. 18, Leigh Fish and Chips. We thoroughly recommend it! Friendly service, comfy surroundings, excellent food!

They use cholesterol-free oils and use local ingredients wherever possible. The beer batter is made to an old family recipe, and they claim all the food is made with that unique ingredient - love.

Seaside takeaways were never like this...

H. and I shared snapper and chips. Okay, I ate the snapper and she scoffed the chips.

C. loved his fish burger with tartare sauce, washed down with L&P

Meat-lusting Husband chose a classic burger - complete with beef pattie, lettuce, beetroot, gherkin, tomato, onion, sauce and Swiss cheese.

Leigh Wharf. A group of boys showed us a bucket of fish they'd caught and were planning to smoke for dinner. A quirky Kiwi proudly showed us a fish he'd caught right off the wharf, which was almost as big as the boot of his car! Sadly, I wasn't quick enough with the camera!

C. at Matakana waterfall

You never know when there will be a photo opportunity in NZ. Here, the kids are taken by a hand dryer, where you plunge both hands in and they are blasted dry in 10 seconds. It removes 90 per cent of bacteria on the hands too - very Swine Flu Friendly.

Husband treated himself to a practical souvinir at Devonport - gloves made of Possumsilk. Possums may be well-loved in Australia, but in NZ the cute brushtail critters are an introduced pest and cause enormous dmage to native forests and rainforest. Hence, the makers of KORU Possumsilk garments claim that by buying their products, you are also helping to preserve New Zealand's unique and beautiful environment. They are made of 40% Possum, 50 % Merino, and 10% Silk. They are really soft and warm, but I don't know that I could go there. Apparently you can buy Possumsilk hats, gloves, and cardies too.

Brunch at Manuka in Devonport - potato rosti, wilted spinach, poached egg, avocado and tomato. The service was friendly and efficient, and the food was divine.

The kid's menu featured a very popular All Day Breakfast

Let's go over there ... H. holds forth at North Head, Devonport.

Sightseeing and shopping in the Near-Nicky-Nude

We’ve enjoyed a busy few days since our friends from Brisbane arrived in Auckland for a holiday.
So far, they’ve taken in Devonport, Matakana, Otara markets (unfortunately pretty empty due to the weather), Goat Island Marine Reserve, Leigh, Omaha, and Pakiri Beach.
As usual, a key part of our sightseeing has involved sampling Kiwi Cuisine.
And so, the highlight of our trip to Devonport, was lunch at Manuka, a lovely restaurant in the main street. The service was faultless and the food was divine.
And on our trip to the coast, we had a fantastic lunch at the fish and chips shop at Leigh. The food was fresh and delicious, and even the kids devoured every scrap. And the service was friendly and efficient.
Unfortunately, both adult boys came down with a crashing case of Man Flu, so our sightseeing was curtailed a little, as we gave them time to rest and recover.
On Saturday afternoon, while our visitors were admiring the views from the Sky Tower, the kids and I went to the park and did some shopping to give K. some peace.
Imagine our surprise when we popped into New World to pick up some grocery essentials like, erm, ice-cream, when we saw several people parading around in the Near-Nicky-Nude!
To help publicise the NZBodyArt awards, a couple of leading body artists had painted ‘clothes’ on the near-naked bodies of several female and mail models. C’s eyes were like saucers. Near-nudity in the shopping aisles? This would never happen at home!
My camera has died – that will happen when you drop it umpteen times – so you’ll have to wait for photos. (Husband is going to help me put the photos into another camera and upload from there. Because I am technologically-challenged.)
But in the meantime, I’ll leave you with the latest funny item to sell on trademe (NZ’s answer to ebay): a penis-shaped stone. Perhaps it’s a gift for the person who has everything?

We're free!

After nearly a week of quarantine for Oink Oink Flu, we're finally free.

Yes, after days of soup-making and eating, DVD-watching, reading, and messing about on computers, we finally have the all-clear to be out and about.

And just in time!

We were desperately in need of food and drink, not to mention fresh air.

It was bitterly cold when H. and I ventured out in search of provisions, but after her exile, she didn't wind a bit.

"Woo hoo!" she shrieked, as an icy gust of wind almost knocked her over. "I love it!"

I have to admit to feeling similarly elated this morning, when Husband was dispatched to work, and the kids to vacation care. Finally ... peace and quiet.

And to all who have asked, we still don't know if it actually was piggy flu or not. Would you believe it takes up to 10 days to get the results?

But the doctor said it didn't matter, as treatment and instructions to stay home would be the same anyway. I suppose so, but at least we'd know the trauma in the doctor's surgery had been worthwhile!
We worked our way through the contents of our fridge, freezer and pantry. Here, C. enjoys a healthy banana smoothie.

H. made pigs in blankets people

You wrap them up like this...

We knew she was feeling better the morning she woke up and asked for pancakes!

H. made an apple, lollipop-holder. As you do...