Thanksgiving in New Zealand

 We were invited to spend Thanksgiving Day at Temple View on Tuhikaramea Rd with the other 21 senior Hamilton Mission couples. Only 3 couples are not American. We had turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, pumpkin pie, and other delights. Elder Rooks and I stopped on the way to Hamilton to spend time touring Hamilton Gardens with Elder and Sister Welsh, but those pictures will be in the next blog post, except for a couple of pictures I stole from the Welshes and the Smiths for this blog post.

There wasn't room for us to stay in the Temple View apartments, so we rented a room at the Rua Resort Bed and Breakfast. It was fabulous.

For the District Council Meeting, I brought a pumpkin pie made with canned pumpkin ordered from Martha's Back Yard website. The Aussies (not all pictured here) did ok with the pie, but Sister Ufagalilo would only eat the leftover apple turnovers I brought. More pie for the Americans.

After our tour of Hamilton Gardens and unloading the washer-dryer that had been taking up room in our garage, we attended a session at the Hamilton New Zealand Temple with the other senior missionaries. It was wonderful to be in the temple again.

 The David O. McKay Stake and Cultural Events Centre was the venue for our long-anticipated Thanksgiving Dinner. A lot of stairs were involved.

It was good to meet people whose names we had only seen on the senior missionary directory. Several couples had family visiting from the U.S.

The food was wonderful, plentiful, and much appreciated

 A picture of all of us in the stairwell. Elder Rooks and I are in the lower right-hand corner.

The Smiths made these turkeys out of seashells gathered, I believe, at Raglan Beach in Waikato and/or the Firth of Thames. There were probably five dozen of them, one for everyone, plus extras. That's a lot of seashells. 

Out in the parking lot, a rainbow as we left the McKay Centre to head to our Bed and Breakfast

After being misdirected for the third time that day by Google Maps GPS, we finally found the driveway to the Rua Resort, owned and operated by Colleen and Clive, with a family feeling and homemade breakfast. There were three other rooms on our floor, and we all shared two bathrooms. It was quiet all night, though, and the bed was comfortable.

Rua Resort from the website photo

Our room with arching windows overlooking a courtyard. Here Elder Rooks is staying warm in his robe. It was rainy and windy and fairly chilly and he thinks he is getting the cold I had for about three weeks

The views were magnificent

The side courtyard

We had the perfect breakfast cooked by Colleen and Clive's son, who is a drummer in a band by night and a chef by day. The Eggs Benedict with Salmon was delicious. 

I had heard of  Marmite, "a British savory food spread based on yeast extract, invented by the German scientist Justus von Liebig. It is made from by-products of beer brewing and produced by the British company Unilever." (Wikipedia)

Clive set it on the table in front of us to see who would be brave enough to try it. Being familiar with brewer's yeast, I gave it a taste while everyone watched. Pretty strong and salty, with a fishy undercurrent of too much nutrition in too little space, and a blackstrap-molasses-like texture. Not my first choice for a savory food spread.

Everyone's shoes by the front door. We had a very pleasant stay but had to get back on the road to Rotorua.

There seemed to be a lot of traffic today. It takes about 90 minutes to get to Rotorua from Hamilton. We ended up following several tour buses traveling from Matamata, where Hobbiton is located, to Rotorua, where it is still cold and rainy.

Wispy clouds above the fields of grass hay

Hobbiton-like hills

Fitzgerald Glade, the tree tunnel

Rather interesting hillock formations

The town of Tirau, about halfway between Hamilton and Rotorua

Cow pastures along Highway 5. There was a two-lane expressway from Cambridge to Hamilton, but otherwise it was the usual one narrow, winding lane with wildly varying speed limits, the bane of missionaries trying to avoid traffic tickets. 

Turning towards Ngongotaha. We were strangely happy to be back in Rotorua, which has been our home all this time

No Pukeko photos this week, sadly. Here is my finished kete whakairo, patterned woven bag of New Zealand flax. It still isn't perfect but a lot better than my first one. The roses in the vase were cut from the bush growing at the corner of our house. They smell wonderful, now that my sense of smell has returned after being gone during my cold. I can smell the thermal sulfur, too. Lucky me.

Klamath Falls Rose Garden

The many roses of the Klamath Falls Rose Garden, named for Rotorua's Sister City in Oregon, U.S.A., were beginning to bloom, so we took a nice walk along Lake Road, down Oruawhata Drive (where we had our picnic), and near the Whakamaratanga Hoia O Te Arawa, the Solder's Memorial of the Arawa Tribe.

Wisteria decorating the pergola at the center of the Klamath Falls Rose Garden

The day finally came for our Fairy Springs Ward picnic. The weather was absolutely perfect. We set up chairs and tables under a spreading oak tree. Eddie Barber brought his barbecue for sausage sizzles, fat mild sausage wrapped in bread and eaten with grilled onions, mustard and tomato sauce (ketchup). A favorite of Kiwis.

The sisters brought picnic blankets. We had not only sausage sizzles, but sloppy joes, potato salad, and lots of sandwiches and cakes

Elder Cowell and Elder Shepherd, a Samoan from Brisbane who replaces our Elder Jones, are setting up the Marshmallow Toss game

Bro. Smith, a member of the bishopric, was a good sport and had lots of marshmallows tossed at him

A lot of the marshmallows actually made it in

After several games and relays, the day ended with a sack race

Sis. Cleverley gunny-sacking with her usual joie de vivre

I noticed a lot of New Zealand Flax plants growing beside the stream over the bridge near our spreading oak tree. I brought my secateurs (pruning shears) and a big plastic garbage bag and cut a bunch of flax. The plants were up to ten feet tall and the leaves in good condition. This basket is coming out way better than my first one. This is a kete whakairo, patterned weave, with the top section of strips split for a closer weave.

Our little six pack of cherry tomatoes have grown into plants taller than I am.

We occasionally see bumble bees, but Elder Rook's electric toothbrush (and the regular windy days) seem to be working for pollinating the tomatoes

After visiting Wiki, who is undergoing some demanding physical therapy in the hospital, we decided to walk to the Klamath Falls Rose Garden. We went along Lake Road, where the black swans were foraging in the lawn

Mokoia Island under cloudy skies

We found where the Utuhina Stream runs into Lake Rotorua

The Rose Garden is part of the Government Gardens complex, and very popular with visitors

Gorgeous peach-colored blossoms. To my disappointment, the flowers were not all marked, and the labels we saw were not anything I recognized

In front of the gardens is this memorial to 35 Te Arawa warriors who fought and died in the first World War. The statue is of King George V, wearing coronation robes. Today he is also wearing a red-billed New Zealand gull on his head

Twelve wooden tekoteko surround the memorial. Rangitihi, an influential chief of the Te Arawa, is represented. 

A Krupp field gun signed by Kaiser Wilhelm, captured by the Maori Pioneer Battalion in Quesnoy, France, is on display

Elder Rooks admiring the flowers

Under the pergola

Two Australian magpies vying over a snack someone threw from their car window

On the way back home, I managed to drag Elder Rooks into Patrick's Boutqiue Bakery on Lake Road and made off with a couple of Florentines. I have tried to recreate these with some success. Elder Rooks liked them, anyway

We saw a pair of Pukeko parents with their chicks, which seem to be surviving all the tourists

Redwoods Treewalk

We finally visited the world-famous Rotorua Redwoods Treewalk. We had a return visit from Elder Jack and Sister Charlene Welsh, who have been attending all the Seminary and Institute graduations across the Hamilton Mission area. They came with us to the Tarawera Ward Honouring Our Ancestors activity on Saturday, went to the Fairy Springs and Tarawera Wards on Sunday, had dinner with us, and then invited us to go with them Monday morning to the Rotorua Redwoods Treewalk.

One of 27 suspension bridges and platforms of the Redwoods Treewalk

Saturday evening was the Tarawera Ward's "Honouring Our Ancestors" activity. You brought pictures of your ancestors and put them on the table, dressed how your ancestor would dress, and we were led in a salsa, conga line, and listened to songs and instructions in Spanish and Maori. This seems to be because the natural-born emcee President Maea, a counselor in the Stake Presidency, lived in Spain for a year and was familiar with the Mexican Dia de los Muertos, so we had piñatas, sombreros and skull decorations, like those in the Disney movie "Coco." Apparently Coco is a popular movie in this part of the world. A few of us, including myself, could understand when Spanish was spoken. Many more could speak Maori, however.

We were treated to a Maori Haka with dancers  dressed in Mexican costume. That is President Maea speaking at the last. 

The conga line, including the Elders and Sisters and the stake president. Elder Welsh said this was the best Honoring Your Ancestors activity he had ever been to.

Bev, sitting next to me, is wearing work clothes belonging to her grandmother. Sitting next to Bev is Carmen from South Africa, wearing the colors of the Springboks, the South African rugby team that won the World Cup against the New Zealand All-Blacks. She didn't get too much grief from the New Zealanders about it

On Sunday we attended the investigators' class with Sister Linton and Sister Pancheri. Here they are teaching about the Plan of Salvation. Those in attendance asked perceptive questions and got thoughtful answers from friends who were sitting with them.

We had a relaxing evening chatting with the Welshes about life in New Zealand

Elder and Sister Rooks

Monday we drove to the Rotorua Redwoods Treewalk in Whakarewarewa, famous internationally. It even gained the notoriety of having the Duke and Duchess of Sussex visit during their four-day tour of New Zealand in 2018. 

You turn from Tarawera Road onto Titokorangi Drive into the redwood forest

There is also a Nightights Walk, which is lit up after dark along the suspension bridges, platforms, and the dozens of hanging lanterns designed by renowned sculptor David Trubridge

We asked this fellow why he wanted a job climbing to the tops of redwood trees, checking the strength of the suspension bridges, platforms, and the health of the trees. He said he didn't like college, but he liked climbing rock walls. This seemed to be a good way to expand that skill.

This is the kind of thing he does all day--climbing to the tops of giant redwoods

The redwoods planted here are Sequoia Sempervirens, California Redwoods. New Zealand is a lumber exporting country. Redwoods were planted 120 years ago to see if they were commercially viable, but the climate is so favorable to the growth of these trees that they grow faster than they do in California, resulting not in hardwood lumber, but a softer and less valuable wood. So the forest has become a tourist attraction.

Undergrowth ferns. These are probably Black Tree ferns, which I originally thought were Silver ferns

Ferns love New Zealand. Another plant that does not like Fruitland, Idaho.

Me and Elder Rooks on one of the platforms

Elder and Sister Welsh on the platform bench. The walk takes 30-40 minutes and was not taxing, although we ambled our way through it and enjoyed it immensely

Elder Rooks next to one of the decorative sphere lanterns

More lanterns. The passes we bought are good for one year, so we might return sometime to see the Nighlights

One last suspension bridge before the end

I finally finished my first harakeke kete, basket woven of New Zealand flax. It isn't a very good job, but I learned a lot.

Fleabane growing like crazy, the same Erigeron Karvinskianus that grows like crazy in Chile. I've tried planting it in Fruitland, Idaho, but no luck with this one either.

Another delightful fragrance on our lane, traced to the lemon tree which has been simultaneously blooming and bearing fruit since we arrived

Elder Rooks finally finished hacking and chopping the logs lying around our back yard. Now he will have to find some other way  to get a workout

Sad news for Mr. and Mrs. Pukeko. We heard an altercation in the back yard, and found Mrs. Pukeko attacking the ginger cat, who had apparently eaten the remaining little black chick. It all blew over very quickly. We haven't seen much of Mr. and Mrs. Pukeko since. Some clutches must be growing into adulthood, though, because we still see full grown swamp hens running wild in Rotorua.