The bathroom . . . and more

Here are some funny differences having to do with the bathroom.

Here is a great example of a Kiwi shower, not too different from Euro showers. It’s small, narrow, and not very deep. Also, the shower head is typically loose for removal, but because of that it is always too low and some of us can hardly fit ourselves underneath it to rinse off! It also makes the size seem much smaller even still. This shower in our waterfront apartment is 32 inches square, but the owners have given us an extra treat – a glass soap dish sticks out from the far side at just the right height for my elbow to constantly hit. Forget the pain in my elbow, if that puppy comes off it’s shattered glass on my feet! So I’ve got to watch out for that.

Here is a typical toilet, it is separated from the flusher and the user has two options: low water for, ahem, number 1 and more water for . . . the other. Too often, however, the low water flush isn’t enough!

This is a very common washer/dryer set up, although it is the first time I’ve seen the dryer hitched upside down!! But it works, I’ve tried it. The washers hold far less capacity here and they have to be very skinny to fit most areas . . . you can see this set up is placed in the bathroom as the shower I just showed you is to the right and that’s all the space in our bathroom on this wall.

Don’s favorite bathroom piece (one would think it is the toilet, but no!) is the towel rack which, as you can see, curves around and is HEATED! You flip it on and warm your towels before the shower . . . or, as we’ve been known to do, dry your hand-washed clothes on it, it makes for a great air drying unit for underwear!

This is new to us, we hadn’t seen this on our last trip nor have we seen it in Europe, but it is a dish drawer, not a dish washer. It’s a drawer that pulls out, a smaller unit than a dish washer. Dish washers here are very expensive, although we’ve seen the dish drawer is not too much cheaper, to be honest. But it’s cute even though it only holds a day or two’s worth of dishes (if you are prolific users of dishes like we are).

Lastly here is a photo of one side of Prince’s Wharf where we are staying in Auckland. There is another side to the Wharf that looks like this, that is where the Hilton Auckland is (very expensive!). Don and I have rented an apartment on the 2nd floor (for yous guys it’s really the 3rd floor) at the last shed toward the end, it’s halfway between a one-bedroom and a studio, very nice. A 10th anniversary present to each other. We’ve already shared some of the views from our wall of windows, but here is a rainbow that appears every morning after the early storm showers before the sun comes out.

On Wednesday (12th) we head down south making our way to Wellington. We’ll take 5 days and have booked to take the ferry across to Picton on the South Island (see the map) on Monday 17th. The ferry ride itself is 3 hours, I’m expecting bumps galore, better take the Dramamine. From Picton we drive about an hour to Nelson. We’ll be in a hotel there for 2 weeks and will check in with you then at the latest. We’ll track our progress south from Wellington and take photos and type and post it all, including a hopeful zorbing expedition we’ve been wanting to do since we were last here! Plus there is knitting wool aplenty on this part of the trip. At the latest, we’ll check in with you next week. BTW, here is a picture of the “car” we were going to buy . . .

Best headline so far (I admit it’s an Aussie headline, but we Kiwis don’t care for Aussies): “Search Still Underway for Girl Dragged Off By Crocodile in Northern Territory”