We had an overnight layover in San Francisco on our way home from New Zealand, so we had an evening to explore. It’s no secret San Fran isn’t my favorite city, but, still, it helped keep us awake until we crashed in our hotel beds. (Oh, and, yes, we knew we were going to have this layover.)
NZ: Yay Duck!
Needless to say, Cate was into feeding the ducks. In fact, she was so into it that we went twice and on one of those days we had to go buy another loaf of bread.
This was in Palmerston North, where Cassie and Zac live.
And one more video …
[There are many more pictures of our time in Palmerston North, as well as other beautiful New Zealand places, so browse through my album on Facebook. Even if you aren’t a Facebook user, you can click on the link to get to the pictures.]
NZ: Things I Thought While I Was There
* Things [food, drinks, clothes … ] really are more expensive here. Good thing we had the benefit of the currency exchange.
* Telling the difference in New Zealand and Australian accents seems impossible, but Cassie claims it is a learned skill.
* I need to appreciate our heating and cooling systems more than I do. And my dryer.
* Coke is worldwide. So is McDonald’s.
* Gallons, miles and Fahrenheit make more sense to me than liters, kilometers and Celsius.
* Although New Zealanders [better known as Kiwis] drive on the “wrong” side of the road, they got it from the British, so maybe we really changed things and now think we’re right. More importantly, I am glad we decided words like c-o-l-o-u-r didn’t need that extra letter.
* Not having pennies and nickels really is a good idea. [If paying with cash, they round so you can use 10-cent, 20-cent, 50-cent, one-dollar and two-dollars coins along with larger bills. If you use credit card, they charge the exact amount.]
* Black and navy blue and brown do not all look good together in one outfit.
* There really are a lot of sheep in New Zealand. In fact, the exact ratio is about 10 sheep to every one person.
* Most foods can be made into a tasty pastry.
* Encouraging recycling by charging for disposable grocery sacks and curbside garbage bags isn’t a bad idea.