Mokoia Island, Lake Rotorua, Bay of Plenty (BOP), North Island, New Zealand
I am in despair over not finding corn tortillas. You can get "taco kits" which do not appeal to me. I sent for a box of American ingredients from Martha's Back Yard in Auckland, including corn tortillas (which were eaten in one dinner with the young elders & sisters,) and Nestle's chocolate chips. I use a lot of chocolate chips, which you can only find in very small packages here, unless you are lucky enough to live near the Costco in Auckland. The Cadbury chocolate chips are of course superior but ruinously expensive, and the others are, as I said, in small packages. I saw this Indian corn & wheat flour Makki Roti, Indian flatbread made in Australia, in the Monster Fruit store (this kind doesn't have chili powder in it,) which tastes surprisingly good with refried beans and the excellent Bay of Plenty avocados.
Monday night we walked the 500 metres to Rangipahere Street in Ohinemutu to visit Karla, who moved back to Rotorua not long ago.
Karla is so much fun. She was adopted and considers herself an Ohinemutu Maori. She lives on Maori-owned land and has a 6-person hot-springs tub on her family lot for cold winter nights. She showed us her family photos and made delicious hot chocolate with New Zealand pink marshmallows, which were a revelation. You don't find great big bags of puffy white marshmallows here (I sent for some from Martha's Backyard so I could make Rice Krispie Treats) but the pink ones were outstanding in hot chocolate.
We had a Family Home Evening lesson and Elder Rooks had long enough arms to take a selfie, although it is blurry. I turned out to be the taller one when it came to us shorter ladies, which is not saying much. We are coming back for another Family Home Evening with Karla in two weeks.
White bluebells growing under our mailbox
It rained a lot yesterday, so there are puddles in Kuirau Park on our walk to the second hand stores where we are looking for a bed or two for our spare bedroom. We could have used beds already when the Welshes came and may need them in the future, in case any of you want to visit.
There are seagulls in Rotorua, not as large or obnoxious as California gulls, but obvious close relatives. They were all over the rugby field. We took the little path which is somewhat raised above the puddles. Elder Rooks found a golf ball on the rugby field, lucky him.
These are red-billed gulls, "the commonest gull on the New Zealand coast. Except for a colony at Rotorua, it is rarely found inland."
I believe this is an oak tree, although who knows when you are half way around the world.
We found a nice clean single bed with a pine bedstead, which we bought at a good price and had delivered to our house from the Hospice Shop on Eruera Street. Elder Rooks came back later to get a $5 golf club so he could practice his swing and keep himself in shape for a return to golfing next year. I took advantage of the opportunity to return to the yarn shop across the street and pick up more yarn, since possum-merino yarn has become expensive and the Cottage Flair shop still has 200 metre skeins at the old price.
There is enough space in this little bedroom to accommodate another bed of this size. New Zealand single beds are smaller than American twin beds, although you can get Long Singles and King Singles, probably to accommodate the many Samoans and Tongans living on the island.
Wall art on the side of a building
We happened upon the Sulphur City Soapery...
...where I bought a few bars of nicely scented soap "with volcanic clay".
On the walk home, we came across this interesting looking tree, which looks like it has orange loofah sponges growing on it. I think I have it narrowed down to Callistemon Pinifolius, the pine-needled bottlebrush.
These bottlebrushes are closely related to Melaleuca trees
The Serenity Bridge, which appears to have long buds of wisteria getting ready to bloom
Wanting to learn how to weave the Harakeke, New Zealand Flax, which grows in large clumps all over, I brought my scissors with me in case I found an available plant. Elder Rooks is afraid I will end up in a Rotorua jail, however, and how would that look? although I have been assured it is acceptable to cut a few leaves off of any plants that are not growing in someone's yard. I found a potted Phormium Tenax in the garden section at The Warehouse and planted it in a sunny spot in our back yard. It is supposed to grow vigorously. Maybe by the end of summer six months from now, I will be able to harvest some. Meanwhile, I carry my scissors with me in case Elder Rooks is not paying attention.
The day before our Zone Conference, Elder Rooks checked the tires on our Corolla and found one of them at 27 pounds. It had been running low since before the car was assigned to us. There is road construction on one end of Tarewa Rd where we live, which complicates all of our travel now. The local tire shop said the tire could not be repaired because it had already been unsuccessfully patched. So we had to locate the Bridgestone Select Tyre and Auto Service (which I hadn't found in my original search because I didn't spell Tyre right,) because it is the company the LDS Missionary Department does business with in New Zealand. The process would take two days. We were able to catch a ride to Tauranga with the Fairy Springs sister missionaries, which was a treat.
Sheep grazing on the greening grass on Pyes Pa Road
Tauranga, where we hold our zone conferences, including the Te Moana-a-Toi and Gisborne Zones, including 21 missionary companionships and three senior missionary couples
Sister Cleverley, who has adapted amazingly to driving conditions in New Zealand, was our driver. She is hoping she remembers how to drive on the right side of the road when her mission is over next Spring.
Our meetings were inspirational and instructive, as usual. Here the Belnaps, who live on Ohope Beach outside of Whakatane, and I are asking Pres. Nikoia about the media referral system used by the LDS Church. It was warm in the chapel but cold everywhere else in the building, as usual.
Our Fairy Springs & Tarawera District Elders and Sisters. Five of us are from Idaho, two from Utah, one from Texas, one Samoan and an Aussie. The best missionaries in the mission.
The trip home, under cloudy skies.
Invasive yellow gorse grows wild along the roadsides. A legume, it has flowers and leaves common to the pea family.
On Friday night, we were invited to dinner with the Toma family, who live in Hamurana. Eddie and Margie Barber were also invited, so we met at their house and they drove us up the west side of Lake Rotorua under drizzly skies. I caught this shot of a rainbow over the lake.
The Tomas, with seven children, live in this beautiful home with a wonderful wind-swept view of the lake.
The view from their balcony
Sis. Toma is an exceptional cook, and their children are all adorable. They are trying to be a bilingual Japanese-English family, but the younger children are less interested in learning Japanese. The dinner was delicious and we had a wonderful visit.
Mr. Pukeko in a rare sunshiny moment this week. It has been cold and rainy all week and we have had to keep all the tomato plants, which are getting quite tall by now, indoors day and night.
