Thursday 5 January 2012

Sunny weather and a roadtrip

While the morning started off cloudy, we decided it was fine enough to travel and set off for Ngatea, a small village about 100km south east of Auckland.  
First stop was The Copper Kettle for lunch.   This quaint old house is now a cafe but with no Copper Kettle in sight anywhere.   The HDHBEM had a standard New Zealand lunch.   Mince pie and a milk shake.

After that we wandered the street-  and found this shop.  

Fancy one store having exactly what both of us like most.   The HDHBEM immediately saw the wool yarn by the door and I saw the boxes of books at sale prices!!  Of course she purchased some more knitting wool -  it was a real bargain and I didn't have to twist her arm to persuade her.  
Next stop was the Ngatea Water Gardens.


We parked where directed by this sign -  of all those available this seemed the most appropriate!


And went through to the wonderful gardens. 
Five acres of beautifully laid out gardens, a huge pond/lake, lots of wildlife and a plethora of quirky signs.

The white peacock was amazingly tame
This sign made me grin a little
In a corner of these gardens was a Canuseum - the owner' father-in-law had been an assiduous collector of aluminum cans and they had purpose built a shed to contain them all.   There seemed to be many thousand of them.  



I searched high and low among the America/Canada beer cans for what Amy had called Root Beer-  only to find it hidden among the soft drink cans.   So I am still none the wiser what Root Beer is.


In the small shop at the exit I came across some books -  but these too displayed evidence of the owners sense of humour.

I especially liked the volume entitled "Nothing in Particular by Y Reed"!!

No stitching progress to report - perhaps tomorrow.   Meanwhile, have a good night everyone.

12 comments:

gracie said...

I love Rootbeer and especially Rootbeer floats....What a fun place to visit.

Catherine said...

What a great place! Oh and rootbeer floats, yummy! And how about birch beer, another favorite!

Shiela said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shiela said...

You mean you don't have Rootbeer in NZ? Then you probably don't have Gingerbeer (from my youth) either. What about Creme Soda?
It looks like such a wonderful little place. You'll have to take me there when next I visit NZ. I'll be sure to bring you some Rootbeer.

Sheila said...

Rootbeer - yummy. Haven´t had one for years.
Great funny photos.
Where did Flossie go to after her visit to you? Is she still writing about her escapades?

Sheila said...

Just noticed the person above me is also called Sheila, but spelt differently. There are quite a few of us on the boards :)

Maggie said...

Nope don't know what Root Beer is either, lol but those cans all together look amazing!

I've never seen a white Peacock before. Loved looking at your photos and seeing some colour and some sunshine :-)It's really been horrible here the last couple of day, rain and wind, so windy, i've had to retrieve the dustbin from up the garden at least twice!

Ann at Beadlework. said...

The white peacock is stunning, I've never seen such a creature.

aprilmecheelesdulllife said...

I love the funny little signs and props! The pictures are so beautiful! I just love the White Peacock!!

Anna van Schurman said...

Root beer might be analogous to horehound beer. Probably sweeter and slightly less medicinal. I've never seen a white peacock either--stunning!

Denise said...

Hi Margaret!
Root beer is a very common and popular soft drink here in the U.S.
(although not really popular with me!). It was originally made from the roots of saffafras trees although
many flavorings are used today.
My husband & son are big root beer fans and try new brands when we travel. Myself, I'm a Coke girl!

Susan @ Real Girl Designs said...

I've never seen a white peacock before - how pretty!

I'm not a root beer fan myself - much prefer diet coke :)