PENGUINS AND KOREAN BBQ

Another week flew by.  We feel fortunate to still be here in NZ.  Covid 19 is spiking again in the US and around the world based on news reports and visits with our children.  Here in NZ it’s like Covid 19 never was.  No face masks, no social distancing, Church meetings and other large group gatherings are back, traffic and businesses are back, schools are back in session, you’d never know it was ever a problem here.  The one draw back is that the borders are still closed except to natives who are returning, and they are being tested and quarantined for at least 2 weeks.  I had thought they would create a trans Tasman bubble with Australia, but that looks like it will be on hold at least for a few more months as Australia is spiking again. 

It’s mid July and we’re in the middle of winter here.  We’ve had rains and cold this week, down into the low 50’s.  I continue to jog and play pickle ball to stay in shape.

We had a YSA FHE on Monday and dance on Friday which were fun to attend.  On Saturday, we decided to take it easy after last weekend’s trip.  I got up and took an early morning 10 mile bike ride.  Then we took the bus into downtown Auckland to visit the Kelly Tarlton Aquarium.  It dates back to the 1980’s and was one of the earliest ones around.  My favorite was the penguins, they must have had 50 or 60 of them there.  At first when I saw them I thought they were fake or stuffed.  They were just standing there stiffly looking back at us.  Then they started to waddle around and splash in the water.  We also saw fish, sea horses, octopus, sting rays and sharks.  It was worth the effort to attend. In the evening we visited the Hanmari Korean BBQ restaurant around the corner from our office building.  The place is packed every night so we wanted to see what we were missing.  It was packed again Saturday evening, I didn’t know there were that many Koreans in NZ, we were the only non-Koreans I saw there!  They had a little stove at each table and we cooked our own meats.  It wasn’t my favorite Korean BBQ place, it didn’t have as much selection as other such places I’ve been to, but it was probably the most authentic based on the reaction of the other guests there.