Owen is Home

Owen was thrilled to be home and thrilled with the new cat! He did not even take a nap today. He also enjoyed playing with the birds at the animal shelter.

The Newest Member of the New Zealand Family

Caron, Scott, and Owen returned from their vacation in Auchland, Rotorua, Mt Ruapehu, and other wonderful places on the North Island. So this afternoon we all visited the animal shelter and brought home the newest member of our New Zealand family. She is a beautiful cat--Lucy was her shelter name. Soft white paws and chest with a lovely gray head and body. She was found and brought to the shelter several weeks ago. I am positive she was someone's pet. Now she has an American family!

More Pictures of the Herb Farm

The Herb Farm

After being on call for the weekend I was fortunate to get today off since it is the New Zealand Labor Day. Weather is still cold with a few showers and few rays of sun. I visited the Herb Farm not far from Palmerston North. Beautiful gardens just starting to bud with the start of Spring. It should be gorgeous in about 3-4 weeks. I had a wonderful lunch in the Cafe at the Farm (a fresh tomato risotto with grilled chicken and mushrooms). A very relaxing day.

Palmerston North Square

This is the Downtown Square in Palmerston. Beautiful park with rose gardens, sculptures, fountains, and green spaces. Shopping and restaurants all around the Square. There is a New York bagel shoppe just beyound the bridge and a Starbucks on the opposite side of the Square.

NZ VW

Vintage VW and yes the steering wheel is on the right!

Foxton Beach

Foxton Beach with some hardy souls braving the waters. Air temp was 64 degrees water felt freezing! New Zealanders think it is Summer !

Manawatu Gorge

Blue the Car and Hospital

Wind Farm

End of Orientation

Well Friday ended the orientation, next week I am on my own with a full schedule (not that I have not had a full schedule). Friday was an all day OR day--CSection for complete previa bleeding, Exploratory Lap for TOA which truned out to be ruptured appendix with horrible pelvic abdomenal abscess, Repeat CSection, Laparoscopy for lost IUD, and D&C Hysteroscopy EUA for PMB.

Had to buy a car--Blue like my bike. It is great fun driving here! I sit on the right and drive on the left. I turn on the wipers and wash the wind shield everytime I try to turn--turn signal is on the right not the left. I am always reaching for my seat belt on the left but it is on the right! The gear shift is on the left too--very glad to have an automatic. And the driving rules are different. A car making a turn across oncoming traffic has the right of way! The round abouts are FUN, better than stop signs and lights anyday.

Made it to the Manawatu Gorge. It is beautiful. Reminds me of Ireland up north in the Connemara. I also got to see the Wind Farm up close. It is the largest one in the Southern Hemisphere, producing the electricity for a large part of NZ. Amazing!

Beach Visit With Scott, Caron, and Owen

On Saturday, Caron, Owen, Scott and me went to the beach. It was about 20 miles away on the West Coast. I think the name was Hemitangi. The sand even though volcanic is a grey sand, not a black sand. It was cold (40's) with strong winds! I found out just how strong when the wind caught Owen's ball (light rubber soccer size) and blew it down the beach. I was running as hard and fast as I could. I finally caught up with it about 0.2 tenths of a mile down the beach. Caron just got in the car and drove down!. The beach is wide and hard like Daytona. The water was beautiful but rough and cold. The sand dunes reminded me of the Dunes on Lake Michigan.
I have thrown in a picture of the bike lanes--very well marked and wide.

First Bike Ride

Well today I met with a few friends of Christine Woods and went for a New Zealand Bike ride. It was 45 miles through the country side. There were Christine, Linda, Marco, Kim, and myself.
Christine picked me up and took me to her house about 10 miles away. We all met there and rode out. Christine just bought a new road bike. Still not sure about the clipless pedals. At the mid point of the ride we stopped at friends of Christine. They have a 60 acre farm with Australian cattle--cross between a Texas Longhorn and a shaggy dog! Fun visit.
Then I proceeded to break my front derailleur cable and was stuck in low gear and because it threw the rear cassette out of line, I only had 2 of the lowest gears in which to ride. Very high cadence but couldn't get anywhere! Made it back to Christine's house and with some Kiwi ingenuity was able to get it into the middle chain ring but still only 2 gears on the rear. I then decided to ride the ten miles back to Palmerston North. I had strong head winds most of the way. Even had to pedal to go down hill!! It was then that I wished I had the low gears back.
It was a lot of fun! Great day. Weather was sunny but in the 40's early then upper 50's at the end of the ride.
It is back to work tomorrow for the week.
Will post pictures of the Beach visit on Saturday and the Ride today.
Love you all back home!