Gardens and Guy Fawkes

There is currently a garden festival going on in the New Plymouth Area...tons of people have these elaborate gardens at their homes and invite people in to view them. Rhododendrons are a huge part of them...there are so many different kinds of them! It's a really big deal...and the gardens are sooo cool! These people seriously must spend all day, everyday working on them...there is so much work!

Today, one of Jenny's friend's sisters was bringing a tour group around to see some of the gardens. A tour group full of old ladies (and one old man). We went around with them for a little bit...it was kinda cute. AND, two of the old ladies, Jean and Therese gave me their addresses and phone numbers and said I could stay with them if i was ever in their towns (Hastings and Napier). I did plan on going over to the Hawkes Bay Region at some point, so I might take them up on that offer for a night or two :) hehe.


This is a certified organic vege garden. It was pretty cool in that it was so organized. If I had the time and the attention span...and didn't have to weed, i think i would like to have an elaborate garden of some sort :)

This is one of Jenny's friends places, Stanleigh Gardens. Wouldn't you love a peaceful escape like this in your own backyard? She has 2 acre of gardens!

This is also at Stanleigh gardens...Jenny is the short woman with the white vest on. I hear lots of people are asking for photos of her and Jon...so I'll have to take some and post them :)

This is Hirst Cottage...it was built in 1860something (2 I think). But the lady here had a very pretty formal garden where everything was black, white, and green, and a hint of red in keeping with the house. It's a historic house...The father had a mansion up on the hill, and he built 5 little cottages, one for each of his kids. And now other people live in them, but they are historical buildings and have to be kept a certain way.

Oh yea...I also went around Lake Mangamahoe today. It's the water resource for New Plymouth I believe. It was really pretty around here too...and lots of ducks!

This is also Lake Mangamahoe...if there were no clouds you could see the mountain in the background! I'll have to go back on a day with better weather!

Today (Nov 5th) is also Guy Fawkes Day. It is celebrated in remembrance of Guy Fawkes who in 1605, along with some conspirators, tried to blow up the House of Parliament in London. It's a big celebration here and people light of lots of fireworks (i can hear some going off in the background now). And Friday night they are putting on a huge display at that huge stadium in Pukekura Park.

Oh yes...fireworks are LEGAL here :)

The other day I was in Starbucks...and first of all they had the most AWESOME coffee mugs there...i'm kinda tempted to buy one...they're travel mugs and they are just like all total sparkles...i kinda can't stop thinking about them :)

AND, everything in there was all Christmas-y and snow flaky...which i found weird because it's summer time here during christmas (which is also weird)...it also made me - gasp - miss winter! I just want like a week where i can dress up in cozy sweaters and big boots and scarves and hats and mittens and walk around in the snow...and then go back to warm weather! sigh...i guess i'll just have to deal with the warming weather :)

I also found a dead chicken the other day...it was pretty gross...it was curled up in one off the chicken sheds. AND, I had to watch 7 baby bunnies get killed :( They had made a burrow in one of the cow paddocks which is really bad because they eat all the grass from the root up...so it kills the grass and it doesn't grow back...which is problematic when trying to feed grass to cows.....so anyways, rabbits are a huge nuisance here and they get killed a lot....but i had to pull the babies out of their burrows and then Jenny killed them :( they were so cute too. RIP little bunnies :( The mom got away tho....i got her out of the burrow and she started screaming and squirming and i was scared she would bite me, so i dropped her and she ran away....It was like day of the dead for me! ah!

oh yea...i hear we have a new president...it's all over the news here. I'm kinda removed from the situation...so i guess that's cool haha. I wonder if any changes will happen...and that is the extent of my political thinking.

yikes, that was a lot of typing. Ok...almost bed time for me...i have a busy day tomorrow - good night! :)

ps-it's cold and pouring outside right now...i really don't want to run back next door - ah!!