Baa, Baa Cute Sheep

Spring has finally sprung here in New Zealand.  And this means one very important thing: it’s baby sheep season!

So a huge aspiration of mine (since three weekends ago) has been to pet a little lamb.  Mostly because they look so darn cute and tiny.  

So cute. So tiny.

While traveling to New Plymouth for the rugby game, I had a lot of sheep-viewing time in the car.  And I realized that the whole New Zealand countryside is just one big, fluffy, grass-eating mass of sheep.  And mixed in with the big sheep, there were these tiny, fun baby versions.

Unfortunately, we did not have time that weekend to stop the car, jump a fence, chase down a lamb, and then get chased in return by the lamb owner.  So I had to settle with just shouting “EEK” every time I saw one.

BUT, I found the perfect opportunity where it is socially acceptable to pet all the baby sheep you want: SheepWorld!

I know what you’re thinking: Tourist Trap.  And ok, I see your point.  I guess we did just pay to go onto someone’s farm.  In New Zealand.  But it was totally worth it!

SheepWorld is about 40 minutes north of Auckland in Warkworth.  They specialize in really cute baby animals.  There are sheep, alpacas, hamsters, bunnies, and miniature horses whose main job it is to stand there and look adorable.  If you are going, it helps to have long arms so you can reach over the fence and pet them.

And just a warning: if you pet a lamb, you’re probably going to want to take it home with you.  I did not come prepared for this.  Next time I will need to bring a bigger purse.

I'm coming back for you, little buddy!

- Meredith

Earth! Fire! Wind! Brellies? Gust Busters?... Go Planet?

The winter weather here is fickle to say the least.  And impressive.  It can be sunny, windy, rainy, cold, and warm at the same time.  Way to multi-task, weather.

The wind is my least favorite though.  It is brutal.  I feel like calling Captain Planet’s team and telling Wind,  “Put down your darn ring and walk away.  You’ve done enough, sir.  Give someone else a chance.”  Like Sun or Beach Weather.  Those are not real Captain Planet members, but they totally should be.  I would call on them right now.

The safety warning from our new apartment hints at how bad Wind is behaving.  “At times the wind can be very strong around the main entrance to the tower, on some occasions residents have been blown over, please be careful.”  I’m not going to lie, I kind of want to see that happen.  But knowing my luck, it will probably be me.  I’m going to have some Wizard of Oz cyclone moment and end up in Antarctica.  I just know it.

We have been told we need to get a special type of umbrella (or “brellie”) called a “gust buster”.  Apparently these have some special magic that prevents them from turning inside out every 5 seconds. Which would be useful since we can now be spotted all over the city “comically” trying to right our umbrella in the middle of a downpour.  This must be how they tell the newcomers apart from the locals.

This week we went to Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World and MOTAT (Museum of Transportation and Technology).   Kelly’s is billed as being “the” place to have an antarctic encounter, but I was not really that impressed.   We did take a snowmobile around to look at the penguins so that was kind of exciting and different.  But we could not pet the penguins and the penguins did not fly or dance.   For the price of the ticket, I was expecting the penguins to do tricks or at least wear bow ties and serve us ice cream.  

I think I scared the sea horse when I took this photo.  Sorry, sea horse.

Penguins not wearing bow ties or serving ice cream.

MOTAT on the other hand is worth the ticket.  I think it is probably meant more for kids, but usually that just means it is more exciting for adults too.  There are lots of cars and trains that you can crawl into, a mirror maze, a printing press you can play with, and a giant kiwi bird!  There is also a tram that takes you on a 10 minute ride around parts of Auckland.  And the conductor wears a “train hat” and says “all aboard” so you know, that definitely makes the experience more grown-up.

Extremely large kiwi bird.

I have also been searching for jobs which is a little difficult because we have limited internet resources.  But I have found something that I am good at that I think would make an excellent career.  Gambling!  David does not agree.  I spent less than 30 minutes though and made $27 at the casino on Saturday.  If I kept that up and made $50 or more an hour, that is like a 100K job.  He has yet to convince me why this is a bad idea.

- Meredith

Top Hats and Bellybutton Warmers

So this week we concentrated on the apartment search which was sort of like a full time job.  Mostly because buyer’s agents don’t exist here.  This means we do the research and then contact the listing agent to see the property.  And then we pay them a fee when we rent the property.  Wait, what?  What am I paying them for?  Oh that’s right, they opened the door for us and turned on a light.  Thank you.  That is definitely worth one week’s rent.

There have been some interesting properties though.  Like the one with the doorman who wears a top hat and long coattails.  That one is a little more expensive, but I feel the top hat is worth at least $25 a week just for the laugh.

The one we are hoping for is below.  Please don’t hate us.  Promise?  


Really?

Ok

Here it is:

This is why we moved.

We have also done a little shopping and found that they sell some odd things here.  There are some unique/ cool things for sure, like The Third Eye shop on K’ Rd that specializes in Indian flair fabrics, home decor, and jewelry for pretty inexpensive prices.

But we have also found flashlight earpicks and Charlie Sheen blow-up dolls.

My personal favorite that I am buying everyone for Christmas...  it is compact and easy to ship and best of all it is a......

Possum Fur Bellybutton Warmer!

Because I care.  Don’t worry, there are enough for everyone!

We have done a little restaurant hopping as well.  There was Murder Burger that has a devious looking cat on their logo, but tasty burgers.  David got “The Standard” which had the Kiwis’ favorite burger toppings, beet and egg.  And actually, it’s pretty good!  And now you think we are weird.  It’s ok.  You should try it though when you come visit.

My favorite restaurant so far has been The Longroom where I learned that it is ok to drink Aloe Vera.  Ok, so I don’t think it is the same as our aloe vera, but it is soothing, refreshing, and slightly green so I could be mistaken.  They put it in a cocktail called The Aloemony, and I’m not saying that I went back for a second one, but they were both delicious.  They also make really yummy food.  I almost stole David’s steak.  He is very fast though.

Yesterday we went to a dormant volcano/ park called One Tree Hill where you get to frolic with hundreds of sheep.  You can just open the gate and walk on in.  They are very trusting here because no one is monitoring whether you take a sheep home.  I resisted.  For now.  

One Tree Hill also has a park where you can fly kites and practice archery and grill out and get ice cream in flavors like Fig & Honey and Ginger Crunch.  And it is all free! (Well not the ice cream, but you can’t ask for everything). 


- Meredith

Gate 28 also known as Gate 26 and 1/2

Welcome to Auckland and The Funny Sheep Travel Blog!

  

So this week we hopped across the pond and moved 8,356 miles.  You know, no big deal. 

(By the way, I am disappointed with Google Maps. I went there to find the exact milage between North Carolina and Auckland, but they would not calculate a route.  Where is your humor, Google?  I was hoping for “Get in your row boat and row across the South Pacific”.  Evidently they do not think this is a good idea.)

Our adventure started off on Saturday in North Carolina with the baggage check-in.  We were first in line.  It took 2 hours.  Apparently you have to get approval from the prime minister, the red panda at the Auckland zoo, and Samonsite, the baggage god, to fly with 5 suitcases.  And then you have to buy the bags their own small country.

At least the views on the flight to L.A. were pretty decent.  Lots of mountains and deserts and other nature type things.  Kind of like google earth, but better.

After we arrived in LAX, we immediately remembered why we hate this airport.

We went in search of Gate 28 only to find that they had hidden it.  Gate 26 was to our left, gate 27 was in front of us, but then nothing.  The numbers stopped.

David: “So is this like Harry Potter where you have to run through the wall?”

Me: “Yes, it’s exactly like that. You get to go first.”

We finally found 28 hiding in a corner between 26 and 27.  It seems that they can’t count in L.A.

If you are flying to New Zealand to visit us (which you totally should), I would recommend Qantas over Air New Zealand for two main reasons.  Qantas allows you to check more luggage and they have better quality food (including a snack bag that we missed on Air NZ).

Although, that being said, Air NZ does have the best safety video EVER.  Richard Simmons leads an 80s style “safety workout video” (“And reach for your luggage, and reach! And pull your seatbelt, pull!”). Phil Keoghan (Amazing Race Host) makes a great cameo in a sweatband too.  So that may make your decision a little harder. 

After we arrived in Auckland and got settled at our hotel/ apartment, we went in search of a temporary phone plan, a bank account, etc.  You know, real people stuff.  Our temporary phone plan gave us 2800 free texts! ... to anyone in New Zealand.  Which is great except we don’t really know anyone in New Zealand. Yet. I’m thinking of texting random numbers, “Will you be our friend?  Please respond yes or no.”  Thoughts?

We also ate our 3rd breakfast that morning (what can I say, I am like a hobbit) at a cool converted firehouse cafe called The Williamson.  They have delicious paninis and cool booths that make me taller than David when I sit against one wall.

And for some reason, everyone thinks we are British.  So we decided to start speaking in lots of different accents to mess with people.  Kind of ridiculously fun.

So yeah, that’s about it.  Sorry there are no pictures yet.  Our internets are a little limited at the moment, but we will work on that.

-  Meredith