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!
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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.
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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
2 comments:
Nice statues! Gill you looked scared!
Gillian you look like you're having a awesome time! I can't beleive you found Shelby's stone. It must have been really hard!!!!!
Emma
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