I've been in New Zealand just over 3 weeks now. Even though I've had many great experiences so far, I'll admit to also being a bit homesick. (I also have chosen not to post about the days I was bored or spent time weeding in Chris' garden. Just know that in between days of adventure are days of monotony.) That being said, I'd like to talk about eel day.
Kiwipurler and her kids came over for dinner. I made a fantastic taco salad, if I do say so myself. While normally I'd be hesitant to show a food picture, I want to show this one off because I made the salsa and guacamole from scratch! Much chopping and mixing went into this. It was a great hit. I also had set aside some mince (ground beef if you are in the States) for later on.
Chris had agreed to take all of us to see glowworms and eels. First we had a peek at the glowworms. It was night when we went, so we saw them glowing. During the day, this is what a glowworm area looks like. You can find them along damp rock. (There are pictures in this post if you want to see glowworms at night)
But the highlight of the evening was when we went to lure the eel. There is a big eel living in a crevice of a rock in a stream and when Liam had visited, we tried to lure him out of his hole with some bread we found in a trash can. He poked his head out, nipped the bread, but spat it back out. This time I was armed with mince. Despite my best effort, which included wiggling a stick near the eel's nose, he refused to come out. But then something even better happened. A smaller eel swam up the stream, wiggled over some rocks, and ate the mince. Then the big eel popped his head out and nipped the small eel on the nose! The small eel had gotten the biggest bit of mince and decided that he big eel was a bully, so he swam back down stream. It was one of the neatest things i've seen in New Zealand. Felt like a David Attenborough or Marty Stouffer moment.
The big eel's nose is visible just to the right of the small eel's fin.
3 comments :
Cool! Those glowworms even look neat in the daytime :)
The taco salad was every bit as delicious as Audry said. I still think about it...
Wow, eel day... I'm intrigued! Just to mention the homesickness though - - I did my undergraduate degree in Montreal and found myself feeling pretty homesick at times. It was the first time that I really spent much time away from home and my family, and suddenly I was alone and living in a different country. At least you have friends already, but considering that you are on the other side of the world, I can imagine that the homesick feelings might feel strong on occasion. Anyway, I just wanted to chime in and mention that it just takes time and before you know it, your new home will truly feel like home. When I moved back to Boise, I felt homesick for Montreal!
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