I had a much better experience in the AM eating breakfast with Allison and Rodney. We conversed, and I learned about their travels, mostly independent or with the low budget Intrepid Travels. I also learned a bit more about the challenges of raising sheep in that area and the destiny of the cattle that were in the field just across from the patio outside (hamburger somewhere).
I headed off and had to stop in Auckland to do a few errands. Changed money at the same bank I had been at the week before (open on Sunday) and had to get a new filter for my camera. Once those errands were done I left Auckland ( would not have liked to have had to drive in the city on a workday) and it started to rain. I had made many attempts to contact Gail whom I had met in the LA airport and who had invited me to stop by her farm. It would have worked out fine, but I had difficulty with phone service and the one time I got through she wasn't there. I didn't hear back from her the whole day. So I had a rather dreary drive in the rain, took a detour around Hamilton and thought I would see Cambridge, which is the horse capital of NZ. The town was nothing special, maybe a bit more British in flavor, with signs to several horse arenas. I stopped at The Warehouse, a discount outfit and bought a beach towel for $4. Then continued south and stopped in Otorhango and spent about an hour at the Kiwi House Native Bird Park. It was educational about many different NZ birds. Then to continue by "bird" experience I continued on to Bid Bird B&B at Waitomo, my resting place for the night.
The market for ostrich meat did not catch on in NZ, but Ann and Ross Barnes still have some ostriches for show. Two other men were there (one from San Jose and the other from Taiwan) and we got to meet the ostriches. We learned they have the biggest eyes of any animal and, for their size, a very tiny brain. One, Victoria, was the most friendly to people. She had laid an egg in the morning and we were offered an ostrich egg omelet for breakfast which we all decided to have. Oscar, the male was having a testosterone surge (beaks and legs were red) and at one point I thought he was going to bite me. I guess they don't do that, but can use their claw as a weapon - it is sharp enough to disembowel a lion we were told. These animals are also very fast - up to 70 km/hr sustained for 30 minutes. After our time with the ostriches we saw the small group of calves that had been watching us. The Barnes buy the calves and raise them until they are 100 kg and then sell them and they go elsewhere for fattening before going off to the meat market. We got to see the calves being fed which was interesting - this plastic semicircular device with false teats on it and a container on top to pour milk in. Like a great big artificial breast.
For dinner I went down to the Waitomo center, just a few buildings devoted to cave activities, a bar, a motel, etc. However, there was one very good restaurant, the HuHu. Promotional literature said it was supposed to be one of the top 100 in NZ - I am not sure, but I had a nice dinner of duck with kumara (sweet potato) mash and salad.
Then back to the B&B and time for sleep.
