A Week of Wandering (when we aren't at work)

After a busy week at work getting caught up on things, we found ourselves wandering up north. We finally made it to the Farmer's market & pottery shops. The best part of the day was finding the Tawharanui Regional Park. It is an open Sanctuary (pest free)for all existing native species and to reintroduce some others that have been lost. Make sure you find our pictures to the right. Monday was our Labour(yes, it is spelled correct) Day here in NZ. Our friends the Marshalls invited us to join them to Tiritiri Island. We took a twenty min. ferry from Shakespere. This island is a bird refuge. Many endangered species have been protected here. We saw tons of birds with the help of our enthusiastic bird guide. My personal favorite was the Takahe which is the Pukeko's closest relative. They are both colorful goofy looking things with large feet and big heads. Neither really flies. Both of these places had Kiwi on them. If we had stayed the night and went out with a torch (flashlight) we could see a Kiwi. They are very nocturnal. It was a beautiful place and fun to be introduced to the birding world. (It won't happen real often--our real love is to power walk the great trails but it was good for a change.)

Later in the week we had a senior missionary Halloween party. In NZ Halloween has not really taken hold yet. On Halloween we did not get any trick or treaters (except the President's son in our office). On Saturday I walked the coast to coast again with Wiki and Pauline Achee and Allyson Gurney. Bob hurt his back so he was home washing the car and doing laudry. (Miriam is a task master, isn't she)(Please check out the pictures to the right)