Becoming a Kiwi

May 7, 2011
Catching up on grandma's diary-
A few more entries from grandma's 1914 diary before latest tales from New Zealand.  I am just putting a few of what I consider the more interesting of grandma's entries.
April 14, 1914 - Tuesday. cleaned south room up stairs. planted a quart of onion sets and sowed lettice. set a hen.
April 16, 1914 - Thur. ironed. mended sent postcard to Lillie Koenig and Uncle Cyrus. planted dahlias. father was here for dinner and supper. set a hen.
April 17, 1914 - Friday. baked eight loaves of bread. cleaned yard. planted onions, peas. parsley, lettice, oysters, radishes and red beets in garden, fixed up rhubarb, planted dahlias for mother.
April 19, 1914 - Sunday, went to Sunday school and church in morning, Watler Smith was here for dinner , read first eleven chapters of Jeremiah.
April 21, 1914 - Tuesday, ironed , put one coat of paint on kitchen ceiling, mended.
April 24, 1914 - Friday, baked eight loaves of bread, planted evergreen tree, sold rags and rubbers to ragman for 88 cents, painted ceiling and washed woodwork in kitchen, father was here for dinner, went to entertainment at Keisers school house in evening.
I will try to catch up more on these later.

From New Zealand -
The trip down was good.  We flew on Air New Zealand's first 777-300 that they have put in service.  It's a great plane but economy class is tight as all are.  I still like the old 747's which I think has a better ride than any other on these long hauls. The 777 is probably more efficient with just two engines compared to the four on the 747's and carries only about 35 less people.  I think this is the plane custom fitted to AirNZ's specs that you may have heard a lot of PR about.  Great entertainment center right in the seat back in front of you with many movies to choose from, electronic games, etc.  It was a bumpier than usual flight but never bounced out of the seat.  They flew at 34,000 ft and around 550 mph.  Was talking to the pilot on way out and asked why they didn't go higher but he said that they wouldn't allow them to.  He said that there has been a lot of storms in the South Pacific the last month or so.

Once arriving at Auckland our New Zealand contact and coordinator Conrad met us at the international terminal.  We waited for awhile for the others coming in on the San Francisco flight which we thought had been delayed but as it turned out had gotten in a little before us and they had cleared and gone over to the domestic terminal.  We almost waited too long as we had to do the OJ run to catch the Christchurch flight.  We made it but our luggage didn't.

We were a little disappointed with the service of KEA to get us to their rental facility just next door to the airport.  Previously with a phone call they would come with a van and pick us up.  This time they said to get some taxi's to take us.  It ended up about an hour until we made the 10 minute ride.  Once at the terminal they provided their usual good service to get us through the paperwork and checked out on all the motor home systems and on our way.

Some photos below - left click on them to enlarge.

Once at the campground we saw some of the results of the earthquake damage.  Some windows in the office building were damaged and the indoor poor was closed for repairs.  Downtown is still off limits to people while cleanup is going on and decisions to be made about tearing down some more of the damaged buildings.  I would have liked to have seen what happened with the cathedral but it is in the off limits area.

Gotta go now my purchased time is running out.

Life is good here down under!!

Wayland