Once inside, the produce section was excellent, but we had been left a generous selection fruits and veggies back home. Only a few familiar brands popped out (Kellogg's Frosted Flakes were "Frosties"), but we found most everything we were looking for in some form or another, even though many shelves were empty with signs explaining that food had been diverted to Canterbury because of the earthquake.
We must have spent an hour walking up and down all the aisles gawking or giggling at the new items and looking for the familiar, while trying to look “local.” Kiwis don’t mince words -- a tube of Neat 3B Action Cream advertises that it's "for sweat rash or chafing between the breasts, buttocks or between the legs".
Eggs are not refrigerated and come in several numerical grades, as well as cartons of mixed grades. We randomly chose 7’s and found both white and brown-shelled eggs in the same carton. As we shopped for potato chips, a woman took pity on our indecisiveness and pointed out her favorite, seasoned with local Marlborough Sea Salt. They were good, and much less salty than American chips. We began to believe that New Zealanders were not fans of our favorite cheese, until we deduced that “tasty” cheese means sharp cheddar.
Self checkout was about the same as back home, except that a store manager was required to verify we were old enough to purchase wine. Mike got a few Kiwi dollars at the Auckland airport, but so far we’ve been able to use our credit cards.
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| White-faced Heron |
On Thursday, we went to the Marlborough District library in Blenheim and found a very good selection of bird identification books. We didn’t think to leave Mick an Glenda our library card, but will add that to the list of things to do next time we home swap.
The weather was a little drizzly, but we headed out Highway 1 to try to find Big Lagoon, a nearby birdwatching area Mike had seen on the map. Missing our first turn, we decided to take the scenic route and went up over a couple passes on the winding road before turning to pick up Redwood Pass Road from the other end. Green rolling hills, sheep and a few cattle about sums up the view. As we approached the lowlands again, we started seeing large groups of Black Swans and birds that looked like giant killdeer. We later learned they are Masked Lapwings (aka Masked Plover aka Masked Spur-wings). We also saw a NZ endemic species, the Paradise Shelduck. And Mick was right, the Australian Harrier Hawks were everywhere as well. We never did find the turnoff that was supposed to lead to the Big Lagoon, so headed back up Highway 1 to a track on Wairau Lagoons that Susan spotted on the map.
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| Black Swans |
Along this road we saw our first White Faced Heron and Pied Stilts. Very cool! Parking the car, we headed out on the track which was longer and wetter than expected. We did see a colony of Royal Spoonbills and again heard the voices of unseen songbirds all around. It started drizzling so we headed back home to grab a meal and view and organize our photos. Later in the evening, we enjoyed watching a little local TV.
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| Pied Stilt |
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| Royal Spoonbills |
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