Friday, January 13, 2012

A New Zealand Northland Christmas - Post #9

Along the Way - Part 2  (Fun Stuff)

I want to know the people who live in this house.  I bet they are artistic and fun people, and maybe a little bit quirky!

The famous jandal fence.  People here call flipflops, jandals, and everybody wears them.  We decided the reason everyone wears them is because no one can afford shoes (VERY expensive here)!

They really cater to tourists here in many ways.  Almost every little town or village has an 'i-site' where you can pick up brochures about all the local attractions, accommodations.  There are helpful people that will answer questions, plan activities or make reservations.
Another very convenient thing is that every small town (or large town for that matter), and every beach we have been to, has clean, public restrooms that are very easily found.  In fact some are very unique, elaborate and fun.  Here is one that was actually designed by a famous architect.  

  Lovely and fun wall painting.

We found this sign outside a city building.  I think it is the most accurate weather predictor the Kiwis have! Here in NZ the weather is VERY unpredictable.  People often say that one can experience all four seasons within a matter of minutes.  We have large windows in our office and it is fascinating to watch how fast the clouds move by.  One minute there is bright sunshine and it is warm, the next minute there are dark clouds, the wind is howling and it is pouring, then within another few minutes the sun is shinning again.