We took this picture last week in the course of our travels - a bit of a gloomy day with plenty of rain about but some of the trees looking really pretty.

The main purpose of this blog entry is to say that we have finally heard that the container which has caused so much consternation and irritation, is on it's way! Hallelujah! That is not to say that there will be no further hitches or hassles, but we are remaining positive and looking forward with great anticipation to opening this big box of goodies and 'getting a life' as it were!
Evidently, the container left South Africa on Friday last week - being 24th April and so we are continuing to believe that it will proceed without further ado and arrive safe and sound in Auckland in the shortest possible time known to man for these things!
We saw on television that Simon and Garfunkel will be performing in Auckland sometime in September - while we were still thinking about how to go about getting hold of tickets, the main news bulletin of the day announced that the tickets for the show had sold out within 17 minutes! I checked out on Trade Me yesterday just for the fun of it and saw that there are tickets available to buy from individuals - like two tickets in one case and one ticket in another - and these are going for approximately R1250.00. Yup, you read correctly - One thousand, two hundred and fifty Rand - OK that's for a pair of tickets! We will not be attending the concert!
We have however consoled ourselves with the fact that we WILL be attending the Johnny Clegg live concert in Auckland on Monday the 1st of June! Very exciting! Most of the guys who work at MWH have no idea who Johnny Clegg is! But then, to be fair, we have no idea who the main 'stars' in New Zealand are either!
Dis al!

A bird, a license and some holy ground.

Just

outside Huntly, there is a Maori graveyard - pictured here on the left. Apparently, the more lowly you are, the lower down on the hill you get to be buried. The really big-wigs get to rest in peace right on the very top of the hill with a glorious view.

I managed to spend a day out on the road with Jo and caught this snap of him looking extremely unhappy about the state of the road edge in front of him. He is armed with the work camera so that he can record the fact and set the wheels in motion to have it all seen to. We have to admit that the reflective jacket with it's bum apron is certainly difficult to miss.

The actual New Zealand driver's license (which involved a fair amount of sacrifice in that studying had to be done in vital Super 14 rugby time) arrived in the post the other day. Jo is now legally able to drive pretty much anything in New Zealand with his little card in his wallet.

Just outside Cambridge - which is a very small little town about 30km from Hamilton - quite ordinary houses line the main street into the village. One of these 'ordinary' houses sports this wood carving which we imagine took a while to fashion - we just wondered if the artist lives in the house behind the bird or whether the new owners don't quite know what to do about the big bird in the front 'section'!

Anzac Day

Anzac day is very big here- by very big, we mean - shops close for basically three days in 365 - Christmas Day, Good Friday and Anzac Day - so that gives you an idea. Admittedly, the country will only come to a standstill for the morning since businesses are allowed to reopen after noon, but even still, it's a day where everyone is expected to take a moment away from the usual buzz and 'remember them'.
We have done a tiny bit of research on the whole Anzac day thing and there is a plethora of information about it all, but to all intents and purposes, 25th April is the day that is set aside to remember and honour all those soldiers who have fought for King and Country - fallen, wounded and returned, past and present. The first Anzac day was selected as the day when Australian and New Zealand troops landed at Galipolli on 25th April 1915 and has been celebrated every single year bar one since. With the advent of 'Poppy' day which is also celebrated all around the world, somehow this tradition has also been linked with Anzac day and so for a while now, paper poppies are available for purchase almost everywhere and all the presenters on Television and so on have been duly wearing their poppies for the past couple of days.
There are all sorts of parades and flag raising and memorial services planned for almost every place in New Zealand and the main one being held here in Hamilton is a walk from a meeting point in the city to the Memorial Gardens and through the gate. There are buglers who will be playing the last post - these buglers have been flown in especially from somewhere in Europe and are a huge coup for our city evidently. The walk through the main gate will of course be led by veterans - very old, not so old and their families and everyone who has claim to any war medal of any description is entitled to display these proudly beside the poppy on their chests. As far as I can remember, there will be a wreath laying ceremony at the wall of rememberance - we did see this wall when we visited the gardens in the first couple of weeks we were here, so we know just how many hundreds, if not thousands of names are honoured there.
Climbing onto the bandwagon, means that all the shops have Anzac biscuits for sale - basically a coconut macaroon type biscuit and even front pages of computers like yahoo and google, sport Anzac biscuit recipes for the more adventurous. I would think that you should plan ahead if you are wanting to bake these delights for your family since if you don't have all the ingredients to hand on Saturday morning, you won't be able to pop to the shop to buy them. Shops that don't close, and are caught not doing so, are liable for a hefty fine and to be splashed in disgrace on television for all to see!
Skande!
We were hoping for a real parade here in Hamilton with floats and brass bands and the like, but it seems that these sorts of indulgences don't happen in the smaller cities - more in the realm of bigger places like Auckland (the super city saga) and Wellington - the capital.
Whatever, there are sure to be some decent celebrations to catch on the box if we are feeling so inclined.
Dis al!

Balloons and Blasters.

Although it was somewhat of a gloomy looking morning, the hot air balloon enthusiasts of Hamilton don't generally miss a chance if the air is calm to take a little glide over the city. We took this picture (right) from the kitchen window while waiting for the kettle to boil for a steaming mug of coffee on Saturday morning. The photograph on the left is one we took a couple of weeks ago and hadn't included in the blog as yet so there you go!

One of our smaller purchases on Trade Me has been this waterblaster - I had been wondering how on earth we were going to get the patio areas around our house clean and less slippery when wet. It seems that with the climate here, everyone has much the same problem and every self respecting home is in possession of a water blaster. This one was a real steal on Trade Me and we collected it from a farm outside Hamilton - we think it had been used to hose down cows, or 'dip' cattle or something, judging by how really grubby it was, but it cleaned up really well!

The two flower tubs that are looking so empty in this picture are now starting to show signs of life - the freesias have been duly planted and there are about 10 showing their intentions.

Dis al!

A Rainbow and a Hat

The other morning just after the crack of dawn, there was this beautiful rainbow painted in the sky. Of course, by the time we had the camera in hand and actually took the shots, the rainbow was no longer at it's finest, but we thought you might like to see it anyway!

The picture below right is of the river running beside Huntly - a little town which doesn't appear to be famous for anything in particular!

The purchase at the sheepskin shop - not too expensive even without a discount!

The lady in the shop referred to this hat as a 'cheesecutter' - we didn't want to argue, but 'cheesecutter'?

We wondered if this contraption was specially made for this advertisement, or whether someone had it cluttering up the 'section' and the wife said, " do something about that thing in my back garden, or I will" so here it stands in all it's glory - and where on earth did those wheels originally come from?

We took a little trip to Huntly - a small town not very far from Hamilton, just to see if there was anything to see! The little village is very like the pretty one Morrinsville, only a lot poorer - clearly there are towns that are less well off. Just outside the town, beside the main road into Huntly we saw this advertisement on wheels for sheep skin goods - having watched the whole Ugg Boot saga on Television (another blog, another day) we were interested to see what this shop has on offer. Plenty of boots - none of them genuine Ugg labels, and slippers of every colour, size and material you can imagine. A whole shelf of honestly hand knitted jerseys - sweaters, cardigans, pullovers - all teeming with cables and fancy stitches and hours and hours of work in each one. For men and women and mostly in practical grey, cream, charcoal, 'denim blue' or black - all at prices which make you cringe, except when you realise that they are all hand knitted, then they are hardly providing a living for the hands that made them. We were curious as to whether the wizened old lady behind the counter was actually the creator of these items, but somehow didn't have the courage to ask her after we saw the sign taped to the countertop - we didn't dare ask for a discount! We tried on many hats - all genuine 'skin' of some variety or another, generally sheepskin - and eventually settled on the one shown in the photo above for when the bike helmet comes off and you need something special to round off the outfit!

We wandered around the back of the little town, behind the row of shops on the main street and found this lovely view of the river and the bridge which gets you back onto the road to Hamilton. It was a shame, we thought that there were no little bistros or coffee shops set up beside the river - all just the back of the shops and their service entrances - could be quite a pleasant way to spend an hour or two being peaceful and lazy with a really good cup of coffee.

Dis al!

Boots 'n all

It's raining really seriously today and the weather forecast is for more of the same for the whole of New Zealand and basically for the whole of this week. We suppose that since we haven't really experienced rain for weeks on end here yet, we can't comment about the 'irritation' factor connected with the rain, but as far as we are concerned, the rain is totally glorious! Clearly, when you come from an area of South Africa which counts every millimetre of rain and which is more drought stricken than not, it is just lovely to hear rain pounding on the roof and to look out of the window at the emerald green lawns and happy shrubs and trees. Of course, at the moment, with autumn in full swing, most of the trees lining the streets in our suburb are of varieties that are in the process of shedding all their leaves - the colours have been spectacular and although some of them are already quite bare, many are still bathed in reds, golds, browns and oranges and make for a very pretty show, especially at dawn and dusk when the light is so gentle.
Some of our neighbours have been out there armed with their leaf-vacs, clothed in their 'protective gear', sucking up all the leaves on their lawns and pavements - very industrious, but to our minds, a bit premature, since there are so many more leaves to come!
The general rule here with things agricultural, is that you don your earmuffs, gloves, gumboots and protective glasses when you mow the lawn! We think that this is a bit over the top and not really necessary - except for the boots which make sense.
Speaking of boots and footwear in general - kiwis for the most part, take off their shoes before coming into your home. It's not unusual to arrive at someones house and see a row of empty shoes parked neatly outside the front door. Everyone inside is padding about in their socks. Even people like electricians and telephone installers leave their shoes outside before coming into your home, even if it isn't wet and muddy outdoors. We can only assume that it's a habit which comes from years of rainy winters and no home help. Since the carpeting in our home is a soft beige colour throughout, I have been grateful not to have had filthy boots tramping about in our house up to now and will be even more so once the winter really takes hold. Since I don't darn socks - not for anyone, if they start becoming threadbare, they will be designated to the dusting cupboard before hitting the landfill.
Gumboots come in every imaginable colour and design - from the usual black numbers, to pink and floral for the kids and ladies who are so inclined. There are 'specialist' varieties, with steel toe-caps built in and if you have an image to uphold, gumboots are available in 'camouflage' print - green, black or grey, whichever takes your fancy.
The roundabouts which have so impressed us with their seas of colour, are mostly over now - the petunias and impatiens have done their job and in the course of last week, we saw many roundabouts getting their revamp - traffic cones placed around them and teams of people clearing the 'old' flowers out and within two days, replanting the whole area with new plants. Our nearest one, has been planted with what looks like alternating panels of green and red cauliflower-like plants. We don't recognise them but will assume that they will be really spectacular once they are fully established. There must be some way of setting the new plants out so precisely - the plants look as though they are absolutely evenly spaced and each row forms what appears to be a perfect circle around the whole roundabout. It was, to be honest, the speed with which this has all been accomplished that has impressed us so much.
This morning I heard that 'English' tea - the kind we all know and grew up with, is called 'gumboot tea' - as opposed to green tea, herbal tea, Earl Grey tea and the various fruit tea varieties. I haven't heard it used before here, so don't know how widespread the usage is, but it was mentioned that it's a kiwi word for 'ordinary' tea. I'd be interested to find out if this is true.
Dis al!

This and that!

Firstly, Dankie Alta en Sarel vir julle 'comment' op die blog - baie waardeer! It's nice to know that folks do actually read all this!
I have an idea what Manchester is - judging by what was on offer at the sales under the category of 'Manchester' we have come to the conclusion that what we would have referred to as 'soft furnishings' falls under 'Manchester' - but what I don't understand is why Manchester and not Dundee or Johannesburg or Timbuktu for that matter. I suppose what really matters is that the people with the bucks to spend on such things know what it is and spend their money on it. Once our container eventually arrives here, we should have our fair share of Manchester in any event and if we should be needing more in that line, will no doubt have to wait for the next sale, since even the sale prices are somewhat daylight robbery in my humble opinion. I mean honestly folks, who wants to spend over R150.00 on a scatter cushion with a hideous, loud and shiny design in impractical white with gold 'touches' - no thanks, not even with its SALE tag. Clearly, somebody does, since there are scatter cushions for Africa (or in this case New Zealand) each louder and more impractical than the last, but on the other hand, the heap WAS on sale and marked down considerably, and even still the pile remained defiantly large and I didn't notice customers clamouring to be the first to make a purchase of this aformentioned Manchester.
Grandparents here appear to have common names in that there seem to be no exceptions to Pop and Nana - everyone's grampa and gramma are called Pop and Nana - the other day a friend of ours was referring to having probably inherited her interest and ability in music from her 'Pop' and we had to think on our feet a bit to realise that she was talking about her granddad - something in the way she constructed the sentence, made it a bit ambiguous as to whether she was referring to a style of music or maybe even a 'soda' like you would have in the States - mostly the kiwis don't use 'Americanisms' but here and there they surprise you and we try not to appear too dumb on those occasions.
As in the UK, people 'text' you from their 'mobile' - sms' and cel phones make people have to think about what you are trying to say.
There is a huge to-do at the moment with the plan for Auckland to become classed a 'super city' - the only one in New Zealand in spite of it not being the capital. The problem at the moment as far as we can ascertain, is that the Maori people feel that with the upgrade to super city status, somehow or another, things have been so arranged (by conspiracy they are utterly convinced) that they have less representation in the running of the city than ever before and that simply will not do. All sorts of meetings and pow wows have been held with John Key the Prime Minister to try to hammer out some sort of arrangement that will keep the Maori grievances to the bare minimum, but every day on the news there are further developments on that front and the Maori leaders with all their dreadlocks, tattoos and grass skirts remain fiercely unhappy and hard done by citing discrimination at every turn and just making everyone irritated and in the mood for an asprin and a glass of good red wine. The crime here just doesn't feature to any kind of large degree, but whenever there is something horrible to report on the news in the way of crime, lo and behold, who's involved? Some Maori youth with a bad attitude, no education and a drinking problem. That's not to say that all Maoris are bad - far from it, but it is noteworthy that judging by the news, 90% plus of all the crime in the country is committed by one of their own. I make no judgement, just an observation.
It was somewhat of a surprise to us to hear on the news on Tuesday morning after the long weekend when every self respecting kiwi has been out and about on the roads and visiting the seaside, that the death toll over the Easter weekend here is thankfully down from the same period last year. Last years' death toll was 9, this year 6. I wonder what they would think of the death toll that South Africa has to try to deal with every holiday season? And this in spite of the fact that we have found out that New Zealand has the highest number of traffic accidents per capita per year in the WORLD - I kid you not - apparently that is genuinely the case. Although, seeing the way lots of folks drive, coupled with the fact that kids of 15 are out and about legally on the roads driving, it's not really such a surprise.
The word for a holiday cottage is 'batch' - so you will take up the special TV offer on a battery operated carpet sweeper because you can buy one and get one free 'for the batch'!
Gravel used in road construction, either dirt road or the tar variety is called 'metal' - so if the directions mention a 'metal road' just know it's not shiny or made of steel.
Our house is built like all the others on a 'section' - what we would refer to as an erf or stand, is called the section. People even say the 'section' is pretty, meaning the garden got flowers.
If you are a 'ma plotter' - or live on an agricultural holding not a farm mind you, you live on a 'lifestyle block' - we're getting there!
Dis al!

Happy Easter!

We hope that all of you have had a good break from the usual routine and have enjoyed a bit of a break over the Easter week-end. It seems that Hamilton 'empties' over holidays like this one, and lots of folks that we have met, go away for a few days and spend relaxing time with their families beside the sea, or otherwize, just somewhere quiet.
The weather has been quite mild for the whole weekend with very little rain and temperatures not too cold - some of the folks at the Easter Service were still in very summery outfits but personally, it's just a little cool for the spaghetti strap, bare midrif look for me.
There are also folks who take the attitude that if everyone leaves Hamilton for a couple of days, then they stay put and enjoy being able to relax at home - the shops are less busy than usual and the parking in the city is not as difficult to come by as is usually the case.
We have been pottering around at home for the past couple of days, spending a bit of time in the garden getting some of the 'jungle look' sorted out and lolling about in front of the TV and ejoying a couple of movies which we took out at the library last week. Our neighbours, Sam and Steph took their three kids with them for a few days beside the sea so we could raid their garden shed for the lawnmower and fed the cats while we were about it.
Jo will need to to a bit of studying today, since his heavy duty vehicle license expires one of these days and he has made application to have it converted to a NZ compliant one - this apparently involves a written exam and so he is armed with the relevant books and will be brushing up on all his knowledge so the exam is just a formality! We don't know if he will ever really NEED to have the license, but as he said, if you don't have it, then somewhere along the line, you wish that you had just done the thing!

We are feeling bad about the nasty things we said about the Super 14 South African rugby teams not performing too well - Thanks Mom for the update about the Sharks being beaten by the Cheetahs! Hooray for them! We organised for Sky TV to be installed here in the course of last week since we don't want to have to bum television time at our various neighbours forever, and have started trying to see some of the more relevant games. We just hadn't got as far as watching that one, so Jo is now, even as I sit here and write this blog, trying to see if he can't russle up a replay somewhere on the vast array of channels available to us. I think the vehicle licence book has been abandoned for better things for the moment!

Our local rugby team is the Waikato Chiefs and they are not doing too well either! Last time we looked at the log, both the Chiefs and the Cheetahs were equally low down and somewhat sad looking, but who knows, maybe they know something we don't.

On a completely different note - who knows what 'Manchester' is? At the moment, there are sales on at lots of the bigger stores - everything from 'whiteware' to 'electronics', 'linen' and 'bedding'. Manchester is also at an all time low so what is it?

Dis al!

Die lewe gaan aan

Nee Magtig! het ek vanoggend gedink toe ek opstaan en by die venster uit kyk, Ek moet iets aan die oerwoud doen anders gaan die slange, of nog erger die leeus ons aanval. Nie eens gepraat van die Chinese nie. Toe besef ek, Hallooooo hier is nie slange in New Zealand nie, en die enigste leeus is in die dieretuin, maar as hulle daar ontsnap, dan het ons moeilikheid, hier is baie wegkruipplek hier in die erf. So, na 'n SSSS, sluip ek toe in die bure se jaart in en gaan leen sy grassnyer. Kul jou hier en kul jou daar en siedaar, of dan nou Presto! en die gras is gesny en ons voel dadelik veiliger. Dit vat gelukkig darem nie so lank nie, so 30 min en toe lyk die erf weer skaflik. Hier is nou nie 'n Jannawarie of 'n Philimon nie, so die grassnyer is nog heel, skoon en op sy plek en nou kan ekkis weer rustig wees. Gister het ons bietjie met 'n snoeisker hier in die beddings in gevaar en die bosse bietjie terug gesnoei, nou sal leeu se kind mooi moet dink as hy hier wil probeer wegkruip.

Verder gaan dit baie goed dankie. (behalwe nou vir die Suid Afrikaanse rugby spanne in die Super 14)

Trade Me travels

I don't know how much of the Trade Me saga has been reported on our blog - we have really been able to find a few bargains (things we know we need and at the same time, know we don't have in the container)The other side of Trade Me is that it's often just fun to be part of the auction on-line and then ultimately win the thing! A case in point is the Kirby Vacuum Cleaner that we have wanted to own for ever - admittedly, the one we ended up bidding for and winning, was insanely filthy and missing a few minor parts - but at the end of the day when the chappie at the Kirby shop told us that such machines sell for, on average, about $400.00 and we paid less than half that, we were extremely chuffed with ourselves!
The fridge that we so desperately needed, since there wasn't one in the 'garage for destitutes' - has turned out to be perfect for the job, just a pity that there isn't a freezer section so at this point, we are still not able to take advantage of the specials at the supermarket that require that we freeze things. No matter, we are watching the Trade Me site every day at some point or another and are bidding on freezers up to a point - that point is usually a figure that we feel we are prepared to pay for a second hand freezer - sometimes someone else is clearly very desperate for that particular item and then it is very tempting to 'push them up' and then jump off the train before we pay more than we wanted to! Wicked but great fun! Usually, if we really are serious about something, we put an 'auto bid' on up to a total that we feel is reasonable - sometimes it pays off, sometimes not, but whatever the case, we have really got a couple of stunning bargains.
We have got to see other parts of our district in the course of the Trade Me purchases - more than once, we have needed to go and pick up an item which is about half an hour's drive from Hamilton - we have in this way got to see quite a bit more of the 'local' countryside - somehow we haven't managed to remember to take the camera with us on these trips - the scenery is ALWAYS amazing - it doesn't seem to matter in which direction you travel - it's always a lovely drive and makes us think of the times when we have travelled in the past and been so thrilled with the spectacular scenery in South Africa like the Hex River Valley for example. It seems like it's all like that - hard not to get blase about how stunning the rural areas around here are.
We went out to a farm near to the little rural town of Morrinsville yesterday evening - (to pick up a high pressure water blaster thingy) (for a snip I must hasten to add) and drove through the town on the way there. Morrinsville looks like something out of a movie - little low buildings lining the high street with arched light poles and cobbled main street. Each light pole has a hanging basket brimming with flowers - pinks, whites, reds and mauves and the effect as you look down the street is quite incredible. We slowed down enough to study the baskets - it bothered us that these floral 'balls' must get watered at some stage and are way above head-height. On closer inspection, we realise that each basket has a little pipe which feeds from the light pole - clearly someone switches something on somewhere and hey presto the baskets are watered! I would also imagine that the whole enterprise took a bit of forward planning so that the light poles are 'configured' to be able to supply water to the baskets at the flick of a switch! Naturally, Jo said: "Amazing nation, the English!" Don't ask!
Our band is up and running - still at the rehearsal stage, and practising once a week, but it looks very much like we will be taking Sunday mornings in Hamilton by storm in the very near future. I can't remember when last Jo and I had the opportunity to play in a band where everyone really knows what they are doing - and there are other approaches and ideas that are good ones! And don't throw away the fact that we so enjoy doing something like this together - shades of the old days and the Freestate Choir!
The Easter weekend is approaching and we have been warned to expect pretty crummy weather - there are big rain clouds heading our way from across the ditch which they anticipate will last for at least a few days - not a moment too soon - the Waikato river is very low. I am hoping to have my bulbs planted before the weekend and have taken four DVD's out at the library - all movies we have wanted to see for some time, so we could well spend the miserable weekend cuddled up under soft cuddly throws and lolling in front of the Trade Me TV!
We are also hoping to track down a CD which will enable the Skype webcam to be installed on this laptop computer - had a long chat via Skype with Alta and Sarel in Jefferies Bay last Sunday and although they couldn't see us, they could still hear us! It was amazing to technological plebs like me to be able to watch the computer screen and see them while we chatted to them 13,000 kilometres away! "Amazing nation, the English"
Dis al!

The local supermarket (specially for Bertus!)

For those of you who have no interest in shopping - skip this blog! This is for Bertus! Don't say we don't ever mention you in the blog!

From top left to right - signs that you see at most of the tills just in case you had any ideas about being sozzled and buying more dop! The other one which we have seen often, and which isn't up at our supermarket is the one that says 'if you look younger than 25 we will ask you for ID' - with regard to booze we suppose.
The wine aisle - in this supermarket it's not so spectacular, but at some of the shops the selection is mind boggling - the majority of the wines are Australian and Kiwi, but there is always a good selection of South African wines - Nederburg being the most obvious one. Sometimes SA wines are really competitive in price, but generally are a little more expensive than the local varieties.

'Cheap' bread - two loaves for $5.00 - means that they are really on special - only R12.50 a loaf! The average price for a good loaf of bread with a bit of oomph in it is $3.50 but special bread is much more than that!

At the veggies counter there are bags and tags for you to close the bag with - there is also always an old style 'hanging scale' so that you can weigh the bag yourself - a real big dial face with a needle to show how much your produce weighs before you get to the till where the sticker with the price is added as part of the scanning process.

We have found that 'Obikwa' wine from South Africa has been on special basically since we have been here - not that we knew it in SA, but for a 'cheap' wine it's really pretty good and certainly better than some of the reds from both Australia and New Zealand! These bottles are all marked at $8.99 which is not as good as the $6.99 we found it for at the supermarket over the road from the motel when we first got here! Very drinkable with dinner!

This aisle is just crisps - every possible flavour, shape, ingredient you can possibly imagine. There are big 'family' bags here Allan, not like in Scotland, but alas, no Nik Naks in sight! Some of the big bags are really enormous but as you see from the signs - not exactly cheap!

The 'ordinary' breads - lots of choice! There are more speciality breads available around the corner - but they are behind a counter with all the fancy cakes and pastries and are guarded by a lass in a cap, apron and gloves - and you have to ask for them personally!

All kinds of beer - some local and some imported - New Zealanders seem to be quite fond of their beer - maybe it's got something to do with the whole rugby culture - makes you think that the old advertisement in SA about 'braaivleis, rugby, sunny skies and chevrolet' should have had Castle/Amstel/Black label/Windhoek or whatever added!

Not being a beer lover myself, I have no idea which of them is best, but Jo tells me that Waikato Draught (made locally since we live in the Waikato district!) is pretty good and that the Tui brand is also very drinkable. The Tui beer has a variety that is only available in summer - I wonder if it's really different than all other beers, or whether it's just a sales pitch?

Dog food and toilet paper share one aisle - I wonder why?

Speaking of dog food - there are few dog biscuit type bags of food for hounds around - it seems that here people buy these big 'polony' type food for their dogs or otherwize, spend a real fortune on individual meals for dogs, packed in tubs and with flavours like 'Chunky Steak with rice and vegetables' and at a cost of about $5.00 a throw!

Here is one of the fridges for your choice of milk - nothing too straightforward here - you'd better know what you want and not be in a hurry on your first visit! It also helps if you can read and if you really need all the details about composition make sure you have your specs with you otherwise you can't read the fine print!



Dog food 'polonies' - wonder if anyone who either doesn't read or doesn't understand 'dog food' has ever enjoyed some of this on a lovely crusty roll with some lettuce, tomato and mustard?

Incidentally, it's frustrating not being able to place the photos where you want them - you pays your money and takes what you get!

Dis al!