Week 9 of school...and then back to the States!

Week 9 of school saw me and Gillie getting ready to come back home to the States.
Rained a ton the weekend of March 26-27, and Gillie came down with a fever and cough
after school/during the volleyball game 25th March.   We won the game, the team we played did even worse on serves than we did.   Just not a very exciting game.

Monday the 28th, Gillie was in school, and we just hung out at the library after school.
Had our last volleyball practice with the team on the 29th, and again I found that M&M's motivate
the team.  However, the boys motivate better for chocolate, so they won most of the skill challenges (actually, they won all of them) so they got the most chocolate.  The girls protested but hey, fair is fair! 

Wednesday the 30th, Gillie was still feeling a bit punky, and I decided to keep her from school
and instead drive 45 minutes to Rotarua, a favorite tourist destination near us.  We went to Te Puia, a Maori cultural center, and went on a guided tour.  I enjoyed hearing the history of the Maori people, and how they came to New Zealand. (Basically, about 1000 years ago from Polynesia and other islands in the South Pacific, and more recently, they see links back to Thailand.)   The Maori name for New Zealand is "Aotearoa", or, the Land of the Long White Cloud.  Pretty cool name, I think!  Gillie and I both enjoyed seeing 2 live Kiwi birds.  They are quite endangered, so your chance of seeing them in the wild is limited.  They are also nocturnal, can't fly, and sleep for about 20 hours a day. (No wonder why they are endangered!)  The habitat they were in was dark, and then at night they put the lights up...so that the birds are active in the 'fake' night and sleep during the 'fake' day. I was surprised to see they are about as big as a large chicken.  I thought they were smaller.  They are very shy, and move fast.  They can run about 25 miles a hour!  We also saw the Pohutu Geyser erupt, and saw bubbling hot mud 'ponds'....if you fall in, it is like almost boiling hot quicksand...you sink in and "cook" as you die!  (Eew, but that is what the guide said.)   We stayed away from those.  Rotarua has many areas that smell strongly of sulfur, due to all the geothermal activity (geysers, hot mud) close to the surface.  We had a good time, and drove back to Welcome Bay in time to have a few hours at the Hot Pools, where we first stayed when we got to Tauranga. 

Thursday, Gillie had her last Young Mariners meeting.  It was too strong of winds to sail again, but in honor of Gillie's last night, they got to take the kayaks out after doing some rigging practice on the sailboats on land.   Gillie really likes kayaking!

On Friday the 1st, the kids played a prank on their teacher Fran, where they moved desks around and generally had fun.   We also had our last volleyball game with me as coach (they have one last practice and game the week of the 4th).  We lost that one to Bethlehem College, which is really a high school, and this was an all girls' team.  They beat us pretty well, 73 to 41.  However, we had fun!  We had some snacks after the game and took a team picture...with more than 1/2 my team up in a tree.  They really like to climb trees in NZ!

Saturday the 2nd, Gillie's teacher, Fran, and Shelby's mom Rhonda had organized a going away party for us, up at Summerhill.  Summerhill is a tramping and mountain biking 'park', which is cared for by Karl, another dad from Gillie's class.  (Maddie's dad).  Some of us adults had a nice tramp while some of the kids biked up to the summit of Papamoa Hills, walking or biking around the beef cow herd, and under or over the electric fence ;o)  It was another rainy weekend, but the rain held off for most of our time at Summerhill.  After Summerhill, Gillie and I went to Abigail's house to say goodbye to her and her parents, Mike and Whitney.  We had a nice dinner and chat together.  The 3 of them had made it much easier for us to get our bearings, and we never really said "goodbye", more like "see you later".   Whitney and Abigail get to the States usually at least once a year, so we hope to meet up with them.

Sunday the 3rd, Delilah and her mom Caroline, Delilah's friend Lucy from Class 7 (and our volleyball team), Shelby and her mom Rhonda, came over for a last walk on the beach and lunch.  Once again, it was more of a "see you later" than "goodbye". 

Monday the 4th, I spent wrapping up the last of the packing, giving away things we were not taking back, cleaning, and then one last hour of knitting with the students in Gillie's class.  (Did I not mention my new-found knitting skills??  I am very excited to be bringing back this new skill!)
Gillie finished her knit hat in the last 10 minutes of school, and I also learned a new knitting stitch, the "purl stitch".  The other moms who know how to knit I think were grinning at my excitement... (Hey, sometimes it is the little things that make you happy!)   Then came the hard goodbyes, some tears from mom, and again hopes to see our friends again.  Gillie and Shelby enjoyed one last swing on the tree rope swing back in the bamboo forest, and Rhona and Shelby drove us home. 

Tuesday the 5th, we took one last walk to the beach, and 4 Square to get our last free ice cream Trumpet (ask Gillie about the 5 or 6 free Trumpets she won!), and mail a few last letters.   Our plane left at 2:55pm, our landlord Neville drove us to the airport. 

We saw our first rainbow in NZ, just as our plane was taxiing down the runway.  The rainbow's end was just over the Welcome Bay hills, where Gillie's school is.  School lets out at 3:00pm, so it was like our friends there were wishing us a good trip and saying goodbye :o)

I will post more pics on Shutterfly in the next week or so, and maybe do a bit of blogging about what the trip meant to both of us.

We are very excited to be home, and see our friends and family.   We missed you much!

:o) Tracy and Gillie

Gillie's favorite tree at school...

Hot bubbling mud!  (We're not that close...but you can smell the sulfur!)

Pohutu Geyser...we got wet  from it, you can get pretty close!

My (crazy) volleyball team.

L to R in tree--Lucy, Tiana, Zac, Delilah, Robin

Me, Gillie, Finn

Enjoying the tramp from Summerhill to the summit of Papamoa Hills.

Last view of the Mount and Tauranga Harbor. (sob!)

24 hours later, the lights of Chicago...only about 2 hours to go!

(Lake Michigan to your left)

Gillie signaling on the plane to GB...

Last One!

(She looks pretty good for 24 hours with little sleep...on 4 different planes and 3 airports!)

Another NZ quiz...and some other "NZ" things

Remember a few blogs ago we posted a NZ word quiz?

Thought of a few more...

1.  biscuit
2.  ta
3.  kia ora
4.  chips
5.  brekkie
6.  A&P show
7.  lolly/lollies
8.  candyfloss
9.  car park
10.  capsicum
11.  chook
12.  loo
13.  sunnies
14.  How do you pronounce "NZ"

*********

Here are a few of the foods that we like from NZ.

Tracy really likes the canned tuna--

canned in Thailand, and the flavors are excellent!

A perfect lunch or snack.

We both like the Greek style yoghurt here...

no high fructose corn syrup, just tastes good and smooth!

Gillie likes these! A brekkie cereal.

Basically a big biscuit of "wheat flakes" all squished together.

Messy to eat if you just grab one, (crumbs everywhere) but still tasty.

Store away from strong odours?? What is that about??

We also like the Turkish To Go 'fast food' restaurants here---

kind of like a Greek gyro place, but lots of fresh veggies on rice

or rolled up in a pita.   Healthy and tasty!

**************

Things you DON'T want to eat in NZ.

1.  the KFC chicken---does NOT taste the same, greasy and icky.   Only tried once!

2.  many menu items of NZ restaurants

We've only tried a few, but they can't even get French toast right!

3.  Marmite--

some kind of 'yeast spread'.

From the manufacturer website... "A nutritious savoury spread that contains B vitamins."

They put it on toast, cover it with cheese, bake the whole mess till it is dry,

then feed it to little kids!   ICK!

Here are the ingredients:

Yeast Extract; Salt; Vegetable Extract; Niacin; Thiamin; Spice Extracts; Riboflavin; Folic Acid; Celery Extract; Vitamin B12

No!  Don't eat that!!! ;o)

******

Quiz answers!

1.  biscuit = cookie
2.  ta = thank you
3.  kia ora = hello in Maori
4.  chips = french fries (they do NOT call them french fries here)
5.  brekkie = breakfast
6.  A&P show = agricultural and pastoral show...like a county fair
7.  lolly/lollies = candy
8.  candy floss = cotton candy
9.  car park = parking lot (which they do not make the size of small countries...we should learn something in the States...why do we have such vast parking lots???)
10.  capsicum = sweet peppers (like green peppers at Subway...don't ask for green peppers,
ask for capsicum!)
11.  chook = chicken
12.  loo = the bathroom/toilet
13.  sunnies = sunglasses
14.  How do you pronounce "NZ" =  "N-zed"  They don't pronounce the letter "Z" as "Zee"
but "Zed"

Once again, if you got 12 or more correct, you'll fit right in!
If not, better practice a bit before you fly over ;o)

More later!
--Tracy & Gillie



Update after week 8 of school...

Hello!
We heard through the grapevine that WI had one of those "surprise" late winter/early
spring blizzards...over 14 inches???   That is crazy.    Please have that melted by the
time we get home, as we are used to sunny skies and 70's or 80's everyday.  It can
rain a bit, but we would prefer no snow.   Thanks for getting the weather set for us.  ;o)

(OK, we'll share that it HAS rained the past 3 days---from Friday thru today.  It still is in the 70's so it is not too bad.)


OK, what happened this week?
Monday the 21st  we just went to the library after school, and watched Amazing Race.  One of the few shows we like to catch.  There are a lot of American shows on, but I think quite a few of them are from 'last season'...as if they run them one season after us.   There are a few original
NZ or Aussie shows as well.  

Tuesday the 22nd, we had volleyball practice after school, and I finally found what motivates them a bit...M&M's!  I offer M&M's for the 'teams' which win the challenges/skills.   They seem to like that!

Wednesday the 23rd, Gillie and I went to a cool large park called McClaren Falls, which is about 20 minutes from the school.   We did a short tramp to see the waterfall, and then spent some time having ducks follow us around, and Gillie enjoyed jumping around and climbing on big rocks in the river. 

Thursday the 24th Gillie had Young Mariners.  Here is Gillie's description of the meeting.

We ragged and de-ragged sailboats on shore, which means that we had a competition on how fast we could put a sailboat together with sails, ropes, etc.  I would rather have been out on the water, but it was WAY too windy for us to go out.

Friday the 25th we had a late volleyball game, and we did win pretty easily, 71 to 34 against Tauranga Intermediate.  The team would have liked a bit more competition.  Seems like we either get trampled over, or win pretty easily.  We had one game that was close and that one was the most fun.

We were supposed to have a cookout to go to yesterday (Saturday) at Abigail's house, but her parents Mike & Whitney had to postpone it till next weekend due to the rain.  That worked out for us, as Gillie has been fighting off a cold since Friday after school.  A lot of kids in her school have been out with a cough, and she got a bit of that plus a low-grade fever.  She is feeling better now. (Sunday 6pm).   All we did yesterday was go and look at a yarn shop (did I mention I have learned to knit??) and then just walk around a bit to get out of the house.  Today, more just quiet time, and when the rain let off this afternoon we went to the beach and threw a frisbee around.  The waves were huge, and they are having a fishing contest this weekend so there were fishermen everywhere.  It was just nice to going out of the house!

We are getting excited to come home and see all of you!   Sorry that more pics have not been posted on Shutterfly but once again, the broadband connection has been cruddy the past few days. 

Here are some pics from this week...
(sorry, they won't post now, will add them tomorrow!)

(Added today, 28th March :o)

These are all at McClaren Falls, Wednesday, 23rd March.

See you soon!
Tracy and Gillie :o)

The Great Dolphin Search!! Check out the video on You Tube... End of Week 7 of school!!! Hard to believe...

Hey there--
Just a quick blog today.

Will answer some of the questions from the comments you all left!
Thanks so much for commenting on our blog :o)

************

To answer what is the "funnest" things we have done here in NZ--
Gillie says "Hot Water Beach" or "Taupo/Lake Taupo"
and Tracy says "living in Tauranga" or "Bridal Veil Falls"

Annika, Gillie was drinking WATER from that green bottle in the picture.
(Kind of looked like a wine bottle, didn't it ;o)
She was in the cafe in the old train station.  That building was built in the late 1800's.
Pictures of her on the train will be on Shutterfly soon.

************

Hard to believe she just finished the 7th week of school!
We have had a wonderful adventure over the past 10 weeks.
We are getting excited about seeing family and all our friends back home.

Monday and Tuesday were normal school days. (Well as normal as the school is here ;o)
On 16th March we went on a sailboat...searching for wild dolphins!
We went with some friends from Gillie's class as some friends of theirs were
moving back to Great Britain and we got invited along on this sailboat trip.

Part 1 of the Great Dolphin Search is up on You Tube.
Search under  tmkusik
or
Gillie New Zealand
and all our videos will come up.

Part 2 should be available in 48 hours.

Thursday the 17th Gillie had her 4th Young Mariners meeting,
and they went sailing out on the harbor again.
There is a camp that the YM went on this past weekend,
but Gillie elected not to go to the camp, we did things together here.

Friday the 18th, Gillie and some of her classmates participated in a duathalon--
so run, bike, run.
Some of her classmates did the whole thing, but others were in teams.
One person would do the running, and the other would do the bike.
Earlier in the week, Gillie's teacher said that we'd be "Back by 11am." 
Since we were not leaving till 9:15am, that did not make any sense to me.

It was a 1.5K run (so about 1 mile)
a 5 K bike (3.1 miles)
and then a final 3K run (2miles)

Gillie did the running.  She did well on the first lap, was in the top 5
out of about 40 girls.
Her friend Shelby did the bike portion, but was hampered by her small bike!
Her wheels were 1/2 the size of everybody else's bike, so Shelby had
to pedal 3 times for every 1 time of the other competitors.
I knew Gillie would be impatiently waiting to do the final run.
Gillie did great on her last 2 laps around the lake and passed a lot of other runners.
(I think she is getting ready for the Bellin... ;o)
However, her team did not win ;o)

Gillie's teacher was mistaken!  Our class did not start running till 12:15pm,
and there were about 30 other schools there...it was huge, and there were people everywhere!

We got back to school 2pm and the students ate lunch and then just played a game
in the bamboo 'forest' at the school.

On Saturday, Gillie and I went to a multicultural festival, where many different countries were
represented, with food, costumes, a parade, and dancing.   It was held at a historical site in Tauranga, where they have taken old buildings from Tauranga and moved them to one place
where people can come and see them.   It was fun!  We met Delilah and her mom Caroline there, and then Delilah came back with us to the "bach" and the girls went boogie boarding
in the surf. 

Be sure to check out the videos on You Tube, there are 2 on our "dolphin search"
and 3 new ones from earlier in January, when we visited Bridal Veil Falls...very cool
waterfall videos!  Start with Bridal Veil Falls, the top, then middle, then bottom...although
it really does not matter ;o)

(remember, search under    tmkusik
on You Tube)

I'll post some more pictures on Shutterfly.
Blog seems to be running slow here lately, maybe due to me putting up so many pics.
(I will have a LOT of scrapbooking to do when I get home! ;o)

We'll see you all in just over 2 weeks!!

Tracy & Gillie ;o)

Gillie on the boat searching for dolphins...

did we find any?? 

Go to You Tube to find out!!

16th March 2011

Gillie running for the finish line,

the duathalon at "The Lakes"

18th March 2011

Gillie and Delilah got tattoos

at Japan's tent,

International Festival

Tauranga, NZ 19th March 2011

(Gillie's means 'strength' and Lilah's means 'the bond between friends & family')

No tsunamis in New Zealand, update the end of week 6 of school

Hello again...
Hard to believe yet another huge, devestating earthquake on this side of the world.  Right after the quake, there was some concern a tsunami could hit NZ, but would have likely been well north and west of us.  (Closer to Auckland).  They cancelled a few events located out there, but no tsunami hit NZ.  I read that the earthquake in Japan was **8,000** times the magnitude as the one that hit here in Christchurch a month ago.  That is just incredibly sad.  I hear the only 'good' thing is that Japan has very stringent building codes, and many of the large skyscrapers did not fall/did not suffer large amounts of damage due to this.   I think most of the damage in some areas was from the tsunami which hit Japan.  Thanks again to friends and family who checked in with us to make sure we were safe.

Well, Thursday the 10th of March, Gillie had her third Young Mariners meeting, and they went out in kayaks instead of sailboats.  Gillie got to kayak during her time at school camp early February, and she really likes it!   Mom is glad for this, as I enjoy kayaking as well and now I can have a buddy.  We'll have to go up to Ashland this summer and try kayaking on Lake Superior.  Gillie said she likes ocean kayaking, and I think Lake Superior is about as close as we can get to that ;o)

Friday, we played an all boys team from Otomotei Intermediate, which have the reputation as being "the best" in most of the school sports, including volleyball.   They were outserving us for most of the game.  However, we rallied towards the end, and almost pulled off an upset!  We lost 56 to 50, but I think if we had 5-10 more minutes, we would have won.  Kids were still overall pretty happy they did not get trounced.  We'll have to work more on serving at practice, which I have found is something they don't like to spend a lot of time on.  Unfortunately, that shows when it comes to game time. 

Saturday Gillie and I traveled about an hour to Waihi to go on a scenic train ride.  This was an old gold mining town and the railroad grew up around it.  Now only about 8km of the rail remains, and you travel between Waihi and the other small town of Waikino, along the Ohinemuri River and through some pretty country in the foothills of the Kaimai Mountain range.  We had a great time!  We had lunch in the railroad cafe in Waikino, and got to sit in an open air railroad car, enjoying all the countryside and the beautiful sunny day. 

After we left Waihi, we went over to Caroline and Delilah's home, and after a walk in the park near their home, we got Domino's pizza and a DVD and spend a relaxing evening hanging out with friends.  Caroline runs the playgroup at Gillie's school, and is very social and she has helped me meet a lot more parents at the school.  Lila is in G's class and they get along well.
They moved here from England about 6 years ago, and are deciding what to do when Lila is done in December 2012 with the Steiner school  here in Tauranga.  They may choose to go back to England, which they miss, but are also thinking about the Steiner college (high school) in Vancouver, Canada.  Delila and her mom really enjoy the Laura Ingalls story, and want to take a tour of where she lived.  They were surprised to hear we live only a few hours from Pepin, Wisconsin, where Laura was born.   Gillie and I hope to be able to host Delila and Caroline on a trip to see the sights!

Sunday the 13th we just hung out and took it easy.

Here are some pics from Thursday at the Young Mariners meeting, and our train trip in Waihi.

Will work on getting more videos up on You Tube this week, including some from the train trip.  The conductor was very nice, and you can hear some good Kiwi accents from him and the other passengers!

Don't forget to comment :o)  We love to hear from you!

--Tracy and Gillie

Update, week 6 of school...more Shutterfly pics and You Tube videos are up, and listen to our fave radio station...stream it live from NZ!

Kia Ora from New Zealand!  Hard to believe we are in our last full month of our adventure. 

Quick announcements:
1.  More pics on http://gilliesnzphotoalbum.shutterfly.com/ ...and more to come.
2.  More videos (2) on You Tube...and more to come.
3.  For your blog reading enjoyment, open a new window and listen live to our favorite Kiwi radio station while you read our blog.  
Solid Gold FM!
http://www.grownups.co.nz/solidgoldfm/listenLive

You can hear all the Kiwi accents of the announcers and advertisements, while kicking back to great 1970's American hits.   They just had a big Neal Diamond contest, where you could "Rock, Shop and Recover" , hearing Neil Diamond live in concert in Sydney, Australia and a $5000 shopping spree.  Cool!

************

This is week 6 of Gillie's school term.
We left you last week on 2nd March (Wednesday) after our trip to Kiwi 360.

Thursday the 3rd, Gillie had her 3rd Young Mariner's outing, more sailing on the harbor.
Each time, Gillie gets to help more with getting the boats in and out, and sailing once she's on the water.  There is talk of going kayaking one of the next Thursdays, and I hope we do that.
I also hope they allow parents to take a boat out on the water, that is more my speed!

Friday the 4th, our volleyball team pulled it off and won against the Tauranga Intermediate....
51 to 43.  We have added another player, Finn, from Gillie's class and it is helpful to have his 'tallness' on our team. 

Gillie had a friend stay over after the game, Shelby, also from her class.  We got pizza at Domino's (yep, another American pizza chain) and the girls were thrilled.  We watched "Forest Gump" and the girls played card games. 

Saturday the 5th was a rainy day, an all day rain.  We have not experienced many of those here.
The girls played some made up game in the other cabin, and ate all our ice cream while I read and cleaned things up.  Shelby's parents came over in the afternoon to get her, and the girls talked us into letting G head over the Shelby's for the night.  Since the weather was cruddy, seemed like a good plan.
Mom watched a old Arnold Schwarzenegger movie on TV, "Total Recall".  Slept in Sunday AM.

Shelby lives in Te Puna, which is about 20 minutes the other way from the school, about 35 minutes from our home.  She was born here in Tauranga, and the family home is high up on a hill with a great view of Tauranga!   However, you have to go up one of those very twisty crazy roads to get there.

On Sunday the 6th, I went to get Gillie and we ended up visiting Quarry Park with Shelby and her mom Rhonda.  This is an old quarry site that about 25 years ago was turned into a park, mainly due to the hard efforts of one woman who started a club to turn it into a huge, beautifully landscaped park.  The weather became sunnier and warmer, and we enjoyed our time exploring the park.  Gillie and Shelby followed a "treasure map", finding hidden statues and other things in the park.   After a stop for ice cream, we picked up our car from Shelby's house and headed home. 

This week there has been NO BIG OUTING! at the school!  How unusual!  Volleyball practice on Tuesday the 8th went pretty well, with me challenging the team to beat me in a game, and if they won I'd bring chocolate to the next practice.   Even with creative scoring on their part, they could not do it...5 of them vs 1 of me.  Hahaha, one for the parents!    When my team manager, Mary, showed up, we and Mary's 7 year old played them to 5 points and they pulled that one off.  So, I will bring chocolate...whatever motivates is fine with me.

Yesterday the 9th, Gillie and I headed after school to a home development called "The Lakes".
This is a big newer subdivision, that has been the pride of builders in Tauranga.  With lakes for kayaking, parks, hills to climb, it would be a nice place to build a new home.   However, due to their recession, the developers have been called into receivership (first stages of bankruptcy) so that is a sad thing.  Another large development corporation may take it over. 

Anyhow, Gillie and I love to see new homes, and we went to a few of the show homes that are open for viewing.  Gillie is thinking that she'd like to be an architect, so this is fun for her to see!

For those of you who are curious, home prices here range from $250,000 NZ dollars (about $190,000 US dollars) for an older, 1950's home not near the beach on a small city lot, to $400,000-500,000 ($300,000-450,000 USD) for a new home on a small city lot.  Anything near the beach runs from $400,000 up to $1.5 million NZ dollars. (Or more, of course).
Lots here tend to be small, between 1/4 to 1/2 acre or less for the most part.   These lots (called sections) cost around $125,000-$325,000.  You can get a home out in the country, or something called a "lifestyle section" closer to the city which is about 2-5 acres, for $400,000. People with lifestyle sections tend to have a cow or two, chickens, pigs, etc. and larger gardens.
Housing is not very cheap, but you can find older homes that are decent and better priced. 

What about other things?  Petrol (gasoline) is currently about $2.15 a liter...and since there are about 3.7 liters in a gallon... cost of gas is about $7.95 a gallon!!   Groceries can be a bit more for certain things, and a lot more for others.  A bag of shredded cheese is $15 NZ!  (about  $12 US).   However, you can find things on sale and I have not found it that expensive to buy groceries. 

Fast food is more expensive here, with a Filet-O-Fish meal going for about $7.90 NZ ($6.90 US). Again, they run specials, and they recently had a cheeseburger, small fries, hot fudge sundae and small soda for $4.90 NZ ($3.70 US)...so you just have to watch!  

We have not been eating fast food very much, and if we do it is Subway.   We like to make our own pizzas at home, and we find that we eat more fruit here. 

****************Ok, time for a little quiz!! **************

Here are some New Zealand words...see if you can guess their meaning/what they are.

Answers at the bottom of this blog entry after this week's picture highlights... ;o)

1.  scroggin

2.  heaps

3.  togs

4.  boot

5.  tyres

6.  jandals

7.  ring me

8.  trundler/trolley

9.  bach

10.  same

11.  no worry

12.  knackered

13.  torch

14.  plaster

15.  sausage sizzle

16. petrol

17.  tramp

Gillie and Shelby at Quarry Park,

Sunday, 6th March 2011

Shelby designed a garden path tile when she was about 3...

I can't believe they found it!

The view from Shelby's house

There's the Mount again...



Sunday night sunset over the beach...from our house.

************

Ok, here are the quiz answers! ;o)

1.  scroggin = trail mix  "Don't forget to pack some scroggin for our tramp."

2.  heaps = a lot   "There are heaps of kiwi fruit over there."

3.  togs = swimsuit (also called 'bathers' here)

4.  boot = trunk of a car

5.  tyres = tires (you better have gotten that one! ;o)

6.  jandals = flip flops

7.  ring = call  "Ring me up when you get home from school."

8.  trundler or trolley = grocery cart

9.  bach = bachelor pad or small cottage or rental

10.  same = I agree   "He wants to go to the movies on Friday"...'Oh, same.'

11.  no worry = no problem (All the store clerks say 'no worry' if they you say 'no' to something!)

"Do you want fries with that?" ....'No'...."No worry!"

12.  knackered = tired   "Boy, that tramp has left me knackered!"

13.  torch = flashlight    "Bring a torch for our tramp in the Papamoa Hills."

14.  plaster = band aid (this is a hard one!)

15.  sausage sizzle = brat fry   They do a lot of these to raise money for things, just like we do with brat frys.

16.  petrol = gasoline

17.  tramp = a hike

Score:   15 or more....you're ready for your move here!

               10-14...not bad, just spend a bit more time here and you'll get it!

               less than 10....what are you, an American tourist?? ;o)

Ok, that's all for today.

Be sure to check out http://gilliesnzphotoalbum.shutterfly.com/

I posted a new album in the photo section titled "Tauranga",

where you can see our bach, our beach, our great 1989 Nissan car, and Gillie's school and some school activities.

Enjoy!

--Tracy and Gillie

All the pictures from our campervan travels (17th January-28th January) are up on Shutterfly!

Whew!  That only took a few hours! ;o)
But all the pictures of our campervan travels are up on Shutterfly.

http://gilliesnzphotoalbum.shutterfly.com/


I will work next on getting all of February's pictures up there as well,
and maybe some more videos on You Tube.

Email us and tell us what is happening around Wisconsin right now!
(or, comment here)
We can follow the news somewhat on the computer, but don't do that all that often.

Here are a few of our fave pics from our travels with the campervan, and links to some of 
our favorite places.  Enjoy!

http://www.rarebreeds.co.nz/stoneyoaks.html

http://www.festivaloflights.co.nz/index.asp

http://www.greatlaketaupo.com/

:o) Tracy and Gillie