We had an opportunity to visit the Kauri Museum as they were having a special "free" day. So we were invited to travel with Elder and Sister Larsen and decided to go. The drive of about an hour and a half north of Auckland was very beautiful with rolling hills or lush vegetation mixed with dairy farms. We knew there were a lot of sheep but I think we seen as many cows. Anyway, here are the shots:
I had some other shots with the Museum trip so I've included them here also. This one is of Sister Kite at the church near our flat. Because of lack of parking at our downtown office, we meet at the church and carvan to work each day.
This is a shot of the "Oreo" cows that we spotted on the way to the Museum. I'm sure you can figure out why the name we have given them since that is not their real name of cow!
Here is one of the Kauri trees that was so useful to the New Zealand people for many years until they over-harvested them. There aren't that many left but they are magnificent trees like the redwood or sequoias in the States.
This is some of the "gum" of the Kauri tree that was also harvested for their excellent properties for using in varnish and other uses. The people would climb the trees and cut into the trees to remove the gum, which lead to the eventual killing of the trees. Eventually, the outlawed the practice but not until too much damage was done. They also still harvest some of the trees because many had died and fell to the ground that later became swamp land. So the dig them out of the swamp and find they are preserved well and are still useful as wood since the haven't petrified.
Here, Siste Kite is spinning loose wool into thread on a spinning wheel. It was fascinating to see how a ball of wool would take shape so easily.
A Kauri tree hollowed out that made a great Kodak moment.
These are the Larsen's that we traveled to the Museum with. They work in the office in the Public Affairs assignment for the Church in the Pacific.
Outside the museum this interesting tree seemed like a good place to practice tree-climbing.
Just a close-up of monkeys in the tree. Yes, it is a "P-day" so we are in our grubbies.
We re-arranged our flat to try to maximize the space (since there is so little !). This is the living room with the new TV we purchased since the small one (now in the small bedroom) would only pickup 2-3 channels and they were snowy since they were analog. The new TV picks up the digital signals giving us about 19 channels, though 5 are chinese, one Mouri and a couple other going back in forth between English and Mouri.
You can see our living room also doubles as the dining room.
Here is our kitchen where the fridge and microwave together is about as tall as Sister Kite.
Here you see our washer and dryer (that we affectionately call our "Barbie Dryer".
The small bedroom between the kitchen and living room.
And finally, the bath room. The mirror was on the wall opposit the sink so we had nothing to use when shaving. So there are a few things we still need to pickup to improve conditions. But it is small but adequate. We really are blessed in America !!
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