Our Toilets are Famous
If you head about two and a half hours North of Auckland on Highway 1, you will likely be confused and at a loss for words upon seeing a brown sign with the words “Hundertwasser Toilets” and an arrow pointing to the exit.
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Weet-bix: Breakfast of Champions?
If you mention breakfast in New Zealand, it usually leads to one of two things — eggs or Weet-bix. Eggs can commonly be found in all combinations from eggs and toast, big breakfasts with eggs, egg and bacon sandwiches, poached eggs, boiled eggs, bacon and egg pie, etc. etc. etc. The traditional Kiwi big breakfast…
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World Famous in New Zealand
In my second installation about quirky towns of New Zealand, I’d like to introduce you to Paeroa. Paeroa is on Highway 2 about an hour and a half South of Auckland and it was here that Lemon and Paeroa (L&P) was created. L&P was originally made from effervescent mineral water from mineral springs in Paeroa. Today it is…
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When the Hooter is Sounded
There are just some things that to my American eyes feel odd and this sign is one of them. It is posted on the entrance to the Durie Hill War Memorial Tower in Wanganui. That being said, there are a lot of reasons Wanganui is one of my favorite cities in New Zealand:
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Non-Cents in New Zealand
Keeping up with a blog a day is hard! Especially after happy hour. So I turn today to Jeff Turin for inspiration. Jeff, like me, is from the U.S. but now calls New Zealand home. He arrived in New Zealand with his wife and kids in 2010 and shared some of his initial blog posts with…
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Quirky Towns in New Zealand
New Zealand has no shortage of quirky towns and you’ll find yourself looking quizzically confused upon entering many of the places along our roads. Things that would seem just odd and bizarre in the U.S. seem perfectly at home here. One of these is in a town called Tirau — TripAdvisor says that the 2nd…
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Sheep Shearing: 96 Lambs Per Hour
Yesterday’s news had a headline about an Irish sheep shearer named Ivan Scott who was trying to break a Kiwi’s world record for sheep shearing. He won by 1 lamb which is amazing since he sheared 867 lambs in one day! And, while he is from Ireland, the fact that he is living in NZ…
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Kiwi Cuisine | Living in New Zealand | North Island | South Island | Travel | Whiskey (and Wine) Stops Along the Way
Cork Screw Not Required — Screw Top Wine
It’s a little thing, but in the U.S. when I went shopping for wine I ignored all of the bottles with a screw top. My thoughts (rightly or wrongly) were that only the cheap wine had a screw top. Corks meant good wine and who doesn’t want good wine? NZ has some of the best…
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Glow Worms
Glow worms are supposedly unique to New Zealand but I read somewhere there are a few caves in Australia that have them. Regardless, they are not to be missed and are really cool to see. Glow worms attach themselves to the ceiling of caves or under over-hangings and let down a thin thread that emits a bioluminescent…
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Hobbiton
Of course, just about any tourist coming to New Zealand now is aware of the Lord of the Rings movies. And Hobbiton is a must-see for ALL of the people who have come to visit me since I moved here. Which means that the tour guides at Hobbiton are going to start knowing my name…
