Living La Vida Loca

We opted for a lazy morning after the very full New Years Eve activities, and that was a good call. Once Andrew, Kathy and I got moving we decided to hike the nearby Jack’s Point trail. The very cool thing about New Zealand is that there are so many beautiful walk/hikes – or “tracks” as it’s called locally – that you never have to go very far to get into scenic landscapes and peaceful environs. There truly are more sheep than people here, and the sheep really mind their own business!

We hiked down to the Jack’s Point clubhouse that includes a golf course, sports shop, and a lovely café that overlooks a small lake. We’d been there a couple of days ago and since it was basically on the route back home (and we were hungry) we stopped in for lunch there. It never ceases to amaze me how it is impossible to get a mediocre meal in New Zealand (at least we never have) – whether at a roadside takeout or a sit-down. There is a solid health-consciousness that focuses on organic, locally grown produce, meats and fish, dairy. It’s not always inexpensive but always fresh.

This is a bit out of time order but I have an anecdote to share along these lines. The first day we went to get groceries we asked one of the workers where we could find eggs…he literally laughed at us and said something about the “darned government” we couldn’t really figure out. Not a single egg to be found in the rather large grocery store. So we did without eggs for a couple of days. The next time we went to stock up, Noah went in to see if there were now eggs available and, Voila!, palettes full. When he asked about the egg supply he was told that the NZ government had banned the import of any eggs that came from caged chickens…only free range would be acceptable. Guess those field-roaming hens were hard at work after our first foray.

Our evening was equally mellow. We ate at the house and somehow got to watching some hysterical YouTube videos that absolutely proved that squirrels are perhaps smarter than many humans. Check this out: