Thursday, March 17, 2011

The Octopus makes some pancakes

So, as you may (or may not) know, it's St. Patrick's day! Which means wearing, thinking, and breathing green! We decided that the best way to celebrate St. Pattie's day, (besides spending the day at the pub), was to make GREEN PANCAKES! So here are the steps to make AWESOME St. Patticakes!

Step 1: Obtain green food coloring.

Step 2: Add drops of green food coloring to regular pancake batter (and by drops I mean LOTS)

Step 3: Mix in food coloring

Step 4: Put mixed batter on a hot frying pan

Step 5: Flip

Step 6: Serve

Step 7: Admire the fact that your eating GREEN PANCAKES!

We hope that everyone had a great St. Pattie's day!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Octopus is on top of the World!


The Octopus climbed to the top of Mount Eden this weekend! Mt. Eden is in the center of Auckland, and you can see the entire city, and all its suburbs from the top.

It's also a dormant volcanoe. There are many around the Auckland area! It was a fun hike, and we had a great view from the top! At the crater, there is a compass directing the major cities around the world, so we made sure to find home!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Octopus goes to the Zoo

The Octopus and I (and Heather) really wanted to visit the Auckland Zoo when we arrived in New Zealand. So one sunny day we ventured out and explored the Auckland public transit system!
The Auckland Zoo is located beside a large park, so it seems very out-of-the-way.
The first place we visited was the Kiwi and Tuatara house, as those animals are both native to New Zealand. This was the only photo I could get of a Kiwi (it's a poster, the actual Kiwi encloser is VERY dark) but I did get to see a Tuatara! They can live to be over 100 years old! Another old thing we saw, was tortises! Who enjoy not moving... and taking mud baths!
The diversity of animals at this zoo was amazing. We saw various birds,

big cats,

monkey and oragutans, hippos, rhinos, elephants, and giraffes...

and this pig! Also, the Wandering Octopus made friends with some wandering chickens that follow people around the zoo!

I really enjoyed the Auckland Zoo. It's definitely engaging, the enclosers are large, and the animals looked well taken care of. If you like animals and are in Auckland, the Wandering Octopus highly recommends the Zoo! (and say hi to the chickens for us!)

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Chinese Lantern Festival

The first weekend we were in Auckland, we found out that the Lantern Festival was being held in the park across the street from our dorm. It celelbrated the end of the Chinese New Year, and has become one of the largest lantern festivals in the Pacific region. There were lots of people, food, music, dancing, and of course lights!












the Octopus gets a sense of History

The Octopus and I traveled to the Auckland Museum. It's a bit intimidation, as the building stands on the top of a hill surrounded by fields.



It's quite large as well! The museum consists of three floors: Maori and people of the Pacific, Natural History, and a war memorial.

The Maori history had alot of indiginous carvings, fabrics, jewlery and even a few traditional buildings. The inside of which are very impressive, because they are completey carved and painted in designs from floor to ceiling. The final wings of the first floor showed the history of Auckland culture through furniture... starting with this... and ending with this.
The second floor consisted of a mixture of animals (most of which were not alive), and geological information. We went into a "house" in which they simulated a volcanic eruption in the harbour of Auckland. It was complete with an actual earthquake and breaking furniture! Very fun! I also saw the biggest Sunfish I have laid my eyes on! Of course, once again, it's not real... but it would look GREAT on my wall! There was also a fossil section, where the Wandering Octopus got to see the remains of a very large ancestor!
The third floor was a memorial to the people who fought in the wars, complete with simulated foxholes and an entire gun gallery.
It took us about 4 hours to walk through the whole museum, and even then I'm sure we missed some things! But it was a really fun outing, and I'd look forward to going back.