Palmy

Our full day in Palmerston North was full of great sights and lots of wind! One thing we have learned in our short time here is that the weather is more unpredictable than weather in New England! Layers is the key, as it can be sunny one minute, cloudy the next, sunny again, then comes a little rain shower! It's no wonder the Maori name for New Zealand, Aotearoa, means "land of the long white cloud."

As there was not much to do in actual "Palmy" (as the locals call it), John's cousin Alice drove us around some of the sights surrounding the city. We started off our day with a walk along the river with her dog, Hank, and met up with her friend Richard who is in vet school with her and is also from the states. She then took us to the gorge, where two steep cliffs border the road.

Hank also came along for the ride and was very excited to see the sights as well.

We then took a little walk nearby on a loop path to see some native fauna. Much to John's excitement there were HUGE ferns the size of trees growing in the forest--it actually seemed more like a jungle.

We also took a little trip up to the wind farm to see the wind turbines in action. As you can imagine it was VERY windy. Here is a picture and you can tell from the craziness of my hair how windy it was---enough to blow you to and fro!

On our way back down we spotted a cow peeking it's head through the fence to get some quality grass on the other side. It made for a great picture:

That night we were treated to a wonderful venison burger and steak dinner, and Alice's boyfriend, Russell, came to join us. It was a short, but great, stay and we were very grateful for Alice's hospitality. We hope to meet up with them again soon, as Alice graduates vet school in November (and we both share a great love for Harry Potter and are quite excited about the 1st half of the 7th movie premier next month!) The next morning it was on to Wellington!