Thursday Oct 12, 2023 Day 26 – Tour 6:35am Our day is just starting. 7:50am Barbara and I were a tad slow getting down to breakfast so we met Sallyann and Fred in the hotel restaurant. Another very nice buffet breakfast. 8:22am We had some time to kill before our next muster, so Barbara and I walked around the outside of the hotel looking for photo opportunities. 9:00am On the bus on our way to see the National Kiwi Hatchery. 9:20am We are at the National Kiwi Hatchery waiting for our tour to begin. Our tour guide is Justine. Our guide got to name a newly hatched Kiwi last week and she named it Dante. We saw a newly hatched Kiwi. It was hard to get photos of the Kiwis as the entire system was designed for the birds and not the people. As it should be. 10:47am Our little group is gathering back on the bus. The tour was extremely interesting and very informative. 11:00am We have arrived at the Agrodome. They show off 19 breeds of sheep and explain the differences. They also put on a shearing demonstration that leaves one poor sheep bald, and I would guess, pretty cold. Once on the grounds we had a few minutes to look around before being herded into an auditorium. 11:05am Once we are all seated we watch as one of each breed of sheep is escorted to the stage and clipped to a post with a bowl of food on top and the breed’s name in front. As each sheep was led onto the podium the man guiding the sheep gave a short talk about that breed. 11:16am With all the sheep clipped in place there was a sheep shearing demonstration. The wool was passed around so we could all examine and feel the wool. 11:32am Next some children (and their parents) were called onto the stage and got to bottle feed a few lambs. 11:47am Next we got a short demonstration and talk about sheep dogs. 12:05pm Next was a demonstration of sheep dog herding in an outside pen with three sheep and one dog. 12:18pm We are back on the bus heading to our next adventure. 12:47pm We got a guided tour of Te Puia (Geyser Park and Maori Crafts Center) and our guide was Mere. We got a guided tour of the Geyser Park. We saw several mud pools (heat below causing mud to bubble). We saw hot water steaming in pools and some small geysers. We also learned why a fern that appears green is called ‘Silver Fern’ (the fronds are green on top and silver on the underside). We sat on some carved stone steps/seats that are heated by volcanic activity and were almost too hot to sit on. We visited a reconstruction of a Maori meeting house. 2:48pm Last thing here was a visit to the NZ Maori Arts & Crafts Institute where we got to see many handmade objects and watch some more Maori items being made. We grabbed an ice cream on our way out because we were pretty late for lunch. 4:27pm Next we did the Mountain Jade (Store, Carving Studio, Tours). Found out they don’t mine the jade here. They consider it a gift of nature so only collect what they can find in streams and on the ground. Also found out that they are not allowed to sell unprocessed jade. Local jade must be worked or shaped before sale. 5:00pm Back at our hotel the 4 of us walked down the hall to the bar and bought a bottle of wine (Squealing Pig, pinot noir) to share later in our rooms. Then Sallyann and Fred headed back to their room while Barbara and I walked around the hotel looking for birds. 6:00pm Met Fred and Sallyann in the hallway and we went down to the bar for dinner. The place was pretty busy. Fred ordered margherita pizza to share with Sallyann. Barbara and I ordered a chicken tika pizza. Barbara’s and my pizza arrived but no pizza for Sallyann and Fred. We waited awhile. After more than enough time Fred went up to the bar to inquire as to when they would get their pizza and also why the double shot of Scotch was so small. The pizza answer was that they accidentally delivered Fred and Sallyann’s pizza to another table (of people from our group). The double shot answer was that New Zealand has laws governing the size of a shot. A typical shot is 15 ml and a double is 30 ml. 30 ml is just about 1 US fluid ounce. I just looked it up and in the U.S. most bartenders do 1.5 ounces for a single shot. So the NZ double shot is not even up to a single in the States. They must have felt bad about the pizza and the small size of the double shot because when they delivered the late pizza they also gave Fred another double Scotch. All’s well that ends well, I guess. 8:45pm Just back in the room after sharing some wine with conversation with Fred and Sallyann.