After boxing day, we went on a short trip. We were planning to bring Pinkcocoa to New Plymouth but we changed our plan to go to the East Coast instead.
First we stopped by the flea market. Pinkcocoa was quite surprised how much the market reminds her of the pasar back home. We have lots of fresh produce here and there's all sorts of veggies for sale. Round eggplant, taro leaves, you can find almost anything at the market.
There were also stalls selling Pasifika stuffs. And stalls selling GOLD jewellery. It said on the card there's lifetime warranty and it's real gold but would you sell real gold at a market and not worried about getting robbed.
Introduced the fried donut to Pinkcocoa.Besides the hamburger stalls, there's also the Chinese BBQ stall, pork buns and the 'hangi' stall. Hangi is the Maori way of cooking meat and veggies in the ground.
L&P - NZ's national drink. When pinkcocoa asked me to introduce 'kiwi' things to her, I asked her to try the drink. Also brought her to Paeroa where the drink was first manufactured and got her to pose with the giant bottle. Paeroa is also called the Antique town of NZ for their row of antique stores on the main street.
We then went to karagahake gorge by the waihi river. Did a small tramping and N enjoyed the scenery and the plants available. We went on the suspension bridge and also showed pinkcocoa the tunnel which used to transport gold from the mines. The tunnel is not lighted at all so we didn't walk in it this time.
Next was lunch at Millsreef Winery about 10mins away from the city of Tauranga. I tasted
three types of wine before buying a Sauv Blanc. We settled for the mixed platter and chips. Lunch was beautiful..but we couldn't finish the blue cheese. it's just a little overpowering.
Above N having a ball on the grass. There's a group of toddler and kids too around, so the place was quite busy. At some point, N walked to a girl toddler and they were like 2 inches apart. Me and the girl's dad watched and see what they were going to do. It's amusing. The girl's dad got his camera and took some pic. I left my camera at the table so I could only watch. the girl soon turned away:P hehehe.
After lunch, we showed pinkcocoa the city of tauranga, which is famous for dolphin watching and also went to Mt Maunganui which is the 'gold coast' of NZ. (A mini version). The beach was filled with people.
We then drove to Te Puke whe re the giant kiwi is located. If you wonder, the kiwi fruits are planted in rows like the grapes in the vineyard. We wanted to get kiwi fruit ice cream but the cafe was closed for private function. Bummer!So we just spent a bit of time resting before continuing with our journey.
Another 1.5 hours - 2hours drive, we stopped by a Blueberry cafe/farm. This time we get to have the ice cream we were due to have at te Puke. Pinkcocoa had the blueberry ice-cream while jake went for the mixed berries yoghurt. N just wanted to get on the ground to play. Fortunately there's many things to keep him amuse at this little stop.
N probably learned how to "BAAAA" after seeing the little lamb. He also wanted to touch the chooks behind the wires. imagine the free range eggs the owners get to harvest. N then spent a long time playing with the trolley. Took me and pinkcocoa a few tries to coax him back into the car.
To be continued ....
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