Socky Longlegs

We went to something called the "A&P Show" (Agriculture and Produce), kind of like a small-scale PNE, with lots of animals and small amusement-park rides and carnival food.

You would have loved it! There was one strange "ride" where you could get into a big plastic bubble in a giant wading pool and tumble around.

There were racing sheep.

There was a giant tractor and a kid in a Calgary Flames t-shirt held Socky and I took his photo.

This was a really odd thing. A kid could get into this big front-end loader, and what he was supposed to do was to try to pick up an EGG and dump it gently into a little bowl.

Jane bought a small pair of gumboots for baby Isaac. Socky tried some on.

Socky made friends with a sock-girl relative.

He played around on a giant military tank.

He nearly got eaten by a goat!

He posed with a sheep.

And a baby pig, who slept through it!

This is the guy who was in charge of some of the animals.

There was a brahma bull!

Socky didn't ride on the bull but he did ride on a cute little donkey.

We didn't play "Catch a Fish"...

There was a tiny little ferris wheel.

Here's another shot of the bubble ride.

This is Cherry the stilt-walking clown, holding Socky.

After the A&P, we drove back through Helensville. Here's a typical little New Zealand house with a metal roof and "gingerbread" trim.

Here's another old house (probably late 1800s).

They had a little display of fake coffee and cake outside a cafe. We had real coffee and cake inside.

Socky met this scary monkey at an antique shop.

And this scary Humpty Dumpty!

At the cafe, we met a little girl named Annabel, and she had a stuffed kia parrot, a native bird of New Zealand. If you want to, you can read about the kia here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kea

When you order a cup of coffee at the cafe in Helensville, they put a little red chocolate candy called a Jaffa on the spoon.

Now we're back at Bethells and we're going to have dinner at the cow-shed.

There is the cow-shed. It's on a little duck pond.

Here is the kitchen where we are staying.

Here's Steve wearing a shirt on his head so he doesn't get a sunburn.

Here is some giant kelp.

Here's the little town of Swanson, which is about half an hour from Bethells Beach, the closest place to get groceries.

Here's a map of the Bethells Beach area.

When you walk up the stream along the dunes, you come to Lake Wainamu. Here is the stream up near the lake.

Here it is again.

You can see the lake in the background here. I made a movie of the lake, but it didn't turn out.

Here are the dunes.

Those white lilies are called "naked ladies" because when the flowers bloom they don't have any leaves.

This is the path walking home from the dunes.

Here is John with Isaac and Socky!

Here are Socky and Steve taking the train into Auckland.

Here are some Maori (New Zealand aboriginal people) totem pole-like statues called "Pou"...

If you want to, you can find out more about maori culture at http://www.maori.com

Here's our friend Megan who drove us all around Auckland with Socky.

Jane and John's friend Barry rebuilt this 1939 Ford.

Socky liked it a lot.

Jane, Socky, and Steve look under the hood.

Here's Barry.

This is the "sleep out" and where we sleep.

This is the house where we're staying.

This is the hammock!

We went for a long walk from Bethells Beach over to O'Neill's Beach, just to the north.

Here are some photos from our walk.

Nursery spiders protect their baby spiders in these webby nests.

Where the stream goes toward the ocean...

This is the "silver fern" logo of the NZ All Blacks rugby team.

O'Neill's Beach

Socky on O'Neill's Beach, trying not to get any black sand stuck to his paws.

A cicada

Nice horses on the path...

This is Jessy Bethell, and in her jar are about ten monarch butterfly caterpillars. They eat leaves of the swan plant (known in North America as milkweed). Those are swan plant leaves in her hand.