Top 26 places of things to do and see in Taranaki, New Zealand

This week I decided to take on the A-Z challenge and decided to focus on Taranaki, New Zealand.
Here's my top 26 things to do and see in Taranaki:

Americarna - a yearly car festival celebrating American cars.

Beauden Barrett and Waisake Naholo and a number of other Taranaki players have gone on to become All Blacks (in the National rugby team).

Centre City - the main only shopping mall in New Plymouth.

Dawson Falls - a sweet waterfall on Mount Egmont/Taranaki, you can access it by following these directions.

Egmont Village - a quiet little village, with spectacular views of the Mountain, situated perfectly between New Plymouth and Inglewood, and Bell Block, it's where my family live. The local primary school pool is a popular hangout in the summertime.

Francis Douglas - the local Catholic boys high school and where Daniel went to high school.

Gables - an old hospital in Brookland's Park, the location of my parent's wedding photos - funnily enough their wedding photos were used by the local Police in order to find the missing light's which featured in their wedding photos.

Home - it's where both mine and Daniel's families come from; we both grew up there.

Inglewood - a sleepy little town where an aunt and uncle and a number of my cousins live, about 20 minutes from New Plymouth.

Jewellery shopping from one of the many boutique jewellers in New Plymouth, or head further afield to Dalgleish in the city, or Silverado in Hawera.

Kawaroa Pools and Park - the location of the New Plymouth Todd Energy Aquatic Centre. Be mindful of trains in the area as the train track is used (daily) by trains ferrying goods to and from the nearby Port Taranaki.

Lucy's Gully - a romantic bush walk which is picture perfect, with views over the city and sea; It happened to also be the scene of a murder in 2007. For directions to Lucy's Gully click here.

Mangorei Road - where you can see sweet views of the city and sea at one end and the mountain at the other.

New Plymouth - the main metropolis of Taranaki. Population of 68,901.

Oakura - a surfer's haven and township, just south of New Plymouth.

Pukekura Park - the botanical garden of New Plymouth. Fun fact: I used to live in the Curator's Cottage at 25 Victoria Road.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's Royal Visit of 1954 -

"I was a young school teacher and a cub leader in Hawera…. 

the streets chosen [for the visit] had some very unsightly and the powers that be who arrange these things

 decided something had to be done to cover these sights from royal eyes.

 Every school child set about making paper flowers in red, white and blue crepe paper. 

These were gathered and hung on these."  -  Judith Foy

For more about the Royal's 1953 - 1954 visit you can go to this website.

Rewa Rewa Bridge - the location of the Proposal/where we got engaged. It's a bridge on the Coastal Walkway. For directions go here.

Spotswood College - where I went to high school.

Taranaki - the only region where you can Surf and Ski in one day! Mount Egmont/Taranaki and surf at Oakura.

Urenui - a sweet little coastal town in Taranaki.

Valley "The Valley" - with lots of Outlet style stores and a large supermarket make it a popular shopping destination.

Walkways - there are many in the city and include the amazing 12.7km long Coastal Walkway.

X-perience - the Forgotten World Highway. Take the scenic route from Stratford to the border of Taranaki; Grab a bite to eat and a beer at the pub/hotel at the Republic of Whangamomona.

York Loop Track - for directions visit here.

Zoo (at Brooklands Park) - where you can visit and see many kinds of animals.

Let me know in the comments if there's anywhere you'd like to visit, or see... In a few weeks I'm going to do the Wellington version of this with an A-Z of Wellington. 

Until next week, 

xo Lisa.

Iced Tea obsession!

Okay, so I am not kidding when I say that my favourite summertime drink is Iced Tea.
It can't be any iced tea either, the flavour has to be spot on.

It has to be sweet, but not too sweet -
And ice cold but no ice cubes either -
And it has to be chilled to perfection.

Here's my recipe for DIY Home Made Iced Tea...

You will need:

• 1L jug to mix everything into.
• A couple of bags of tea (I like this one: Peach & Pineapple from Red Seal.)
• Juice or cordial or other flavouring to add to and compliment the tea (I like this one: NJoy Fruit Juice Lime with Apple, Lemon & Mint. 
• Cold water, or room temperature water from your kitchen sink taps.
• A fridge to chill the mixture in.

Step 1:
Mix the tea according to the directions, place 2 teabags into the litre jug, adding water 

(I made it up to about half water with the tea mixture). 

Step 2:

Let the tea steep into the cool water for the 3-5 minutes (as per tea packet directions).

Step 3:

Remove the tea bags from the jug.
Add the Lime, Lemon, Apple & Mint juice to the jug of tea mixture.
Refrigerate until chilled to your liking.
         

Step 4: 

Enjoy!

It probably comes to no surprise then that my favourite Starbucks drink is the Passion Tea with Lemonade! (US web link, but similar info for the NZ version).

The ingredients of which of course are: (from the US website linked above).
An Infusion Of  [Water, Hibiscus Flowers, Citric Acid, Natural Flavors, Cinnamon, Apple, Licorice Root, Lemongrass, Fruit Juice Extract], Ice.

There are lots and lots of YouTube videos on how to make Iced Tea - I watched a few, but a lot of them seem to think you need hot water to steep tea in, not true!

Alexa Golden - she makes green tea in a keurig machine, I don't have one, but you can use your coffee pod machine to make iced tea (who knew?!)

The Domestic Geek  - is a favourite to watch, she's amazing and has LOADS of other drink recipes on her channel.
If you buy the cold/hot brew type you can choose making it in hot or cold water. It's a bit freaky to start with, but it makes sense.  Also I don't sweeten my tea - if you choose good flavourings you won't need to sweeten it.

Diva's Can Cook also has a YouTube channel but I found them here. So good! They also have loads more recipes for food and other beverages, so check them out!

What are some of your favourite recipes for making iced tea?
What's your favourite summertime drink? 

I also want to know what YOU think. I've created a quick survey HERE which shouldn't take too long.  I'd love to hear your FEEDBACK! 

Until next Monday,
xx Lisa.

F.A.Q's and getting to know me.

2016 so far has been all about getting to know me in a new way. 

This week I've decided to write a bit about myself. 

Last week I did a call for AMA (Ask me anything submissions and questions)...

I'm a "mature" student at university. I'm an undergraduate. In my final year. I'm going to talk about this a lot, on and off for 2016. I've been enrolled in study on and off since moving to Wellington in June of 2008. I'm still doing the same degree: Bachelor of Arts, but I changed my minor and major since starting study. I'm doing a BA in English Literature with a minor in Religious Studies. (I also did a number of Linguistic papers, as well as a couple of Education ones).

I grew up in a kind of Christian home, in that we didn't go to church, but we have values like 'treat others how you would like to be treated.' And 'always respect your elders'. Even today, living in another city I still live by a number of these values. Kindness goes far. 

I'm a self taught and semi-trained teacher in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages). I've taught high school kids and adults. (Aged 11-17 and 30+). I've been fortunate so far to have taught a couple of students from China and some more are from South Korea. I'm currently on a break from teaching as I'm studying for summer, but I might start again sometime later in the year*. Tough to work with students, preparing work for them as well as studying. I may readjust this again later and reassess just how much I can take on.

In 2017, after university studies are all done I am thinking to either go into teaching more ESOL, or going into full time blogging. Then again I do need an income because we need to save up for our wedding and impending move overseas!
If only studying meant I'd be paid well enough to not need to work... Haha. As if!
I just hope I can find a good job where I'm doing something I love every day and not feeling down or anxious about the work, wherever we end up.

I'm the oldest of four children. The oldest grandchild in both families too (of my parents that is).
Daniel is also the oldest child. It makes it difficult when we're both stubborn about certain things. One of us has to let the other lead and such sometimes too. We're both super stubborn with some things. Makes fighting interesting!

On top of all of that I am also aware of how lucky and fortunate I am for the life I currently have. If I didn't have such a loving and wonderful fiance I don't know where I would be living right now. I certainly couldn't afford not to work and just study full time! I am also looking forward to getting some financial assistance from the government for my studies this year, the past few years have been self funded (from fiance) and it has created stress between us. This year I'll get a little to put towards expenses so that will be nice and help relieve some of that stress we currently face.

I have a social media empire growing more and more every day.

 I'm on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and here. I also have YouTube but I'm less active on there now as I've chosen to go more of a written (blogging) and photography route with my creativity. 

This is also why the post a couple of posts back has a new Photography Theme on it. 

I want to showcase more of my creative side this year. 

I'm on a Podcast called Skepticism Today - with fellow skeptics Mark, Sara, Tim and my fiance Daniel. We talk about a variety of topics each month when we meet to record. We haven't been the greatest in getting recordings out quickly, if I'm being totally honest and blunt... The aim for 2016 so far has been to record more. We will see how that goes. 

I love listening to music, to the point I'll find something that I love and play it on repeat for hours on end. Right now? It's this remixed song: Oh Wonder - Lose It.
Sorry not sorry flatmates (and neighbours) hehe. Just kidding - when they're near I have it turned down. Also I wear awesome noise-cancelling headphones.

I'm a very busy person - between full time study, part time teaching*, recording a podcast, blogging here and being a flatmate/ fiancee/ daughter, it's a tough life! I'm also a volunteer at local theatre - BATs and currently doing a lot of shows (think every night) as the Front of House Manager for
Wellington Summer Shakespeare's show of Love's Labours Lost, tickets are available here**.

Until next Monday,
xx Lisa.


*TBC
** Until the end of the season.

Photography Theme the Home Office

 I've decided to start a new Theme for each month where I'll have one or two posts (depending on if the month has four or five Mondays) in which I'll fill one or two posts with photography I've more recently done. I will try and stick to a theme or idea for each one, so they are different posts and I'll also try not to recycle images from older posts! 

Challenge is on!

This month for January I am focussing on the Home Office, bearing in mind we moved here about a month ago and I'm still trying to sort a few things - relocate items and so on.

Here goes:

January 2016, Home Office in our rented Mount Cook, Wellington townhouse.

Above: my desk, organisation for pens and stationery as well as photographs of family.

TYPO pencil case (striped) and TYPO A4 note book.
The Owls are from Farmers.

Above: Bookshelf of my favourite books. This one is from the Warehouse, it's a 4 Cubby style one.
You can buy them here.

Above: Owls - sitting on top of the bookshelf the brown wood style two are from Farmers.

The Owl Vase is from TYPO. (No longer in store).

Above: Blinds and curtains. Driveway view isn't so exciting.

Above: Pinboard Photo board, which I've just used thumbtacks to secure photos to. The pinboard and photo on board above it are hung on the wall with 3M Command hooks.

Above: "Daniel's Dinosaur's" Bunting from Trade Me.
And a sea life themed sarong I bought in Fiji (2007).

Hope you enjoyed the small peek into our Home Office. 

Not featured was Dan's desk, or the rest of the top of mine - currently covered in things for my essay that was due on Thursday (Don't worry I got it in on time, the post is just delayed in going live!)

I also didn't photograph things like my calendars as I do not want to share my exact home location with the world!* 

*Or things like when I'll be out at university classes and so on. I try and write my university class review posts (after) I've completed it, so it's a little more secure. 

Until next week,
xx. Lisa.

November madness, writing 50,000 words and a Conference!

So for the month of November I have accepted the challenge of writing a grand total of 50,000 words, and in the process creating that into a novel. I've decided to write a kind of half memoir, half journal for each day of the month. The expected output is 1,667 words per day, although on the first day I only wrote 963, so I will need to write more to compensate.
Each day you can update your stats yourself.

National Novel Writing Month:  NaNoWriMo

I chose to make the title: "My Life Story in 50,000 words Lisa Taylor: a journal and memoir" as I think it accurately reflects the kind of story I want to put across. Not everything I write is the whole truth, some has been edited to allow for a flair of writing as well as to protect the privacy of those I have written about or for.
At the end of the month I will share the novel in full and may look into publishing.
It may be posted later on, in part at least, on this blog after further editing.


In a week or so it is also the NZ Skeptics Conference in Christchurch. There is still time to buy tickets if you haven't already! Jump online here for tickets and more information about speakers and accommodation.

Thankfully, we have a flatmate who will be home while we are away for a few days in Christchurch. 

Social Media updates and exciting new ventures.

So, so, much has changed in the past two weeks. 

To be honest it's a bit overwhelming how much life changes; for the better. 

First of all I dusted off my camcorder and started filming a few things for my YouTube channel. You can see the latest things here; Lisa Taylor's YouTube... and on that note - started talking to more local YouTubers on Facebook - slowly gaining followers, can only hope to grow more by recording more and furthering my own skills in editing, recording etcetera.

I see a lot of the local YouTuber's seem to solely do YouTube...
I'm still happy to have Pinterest, Instagram, this blog and Facebook going on. I created a page on Facebook for the Blog and YouTube updates - I'm thinking that I should really make it include the other social media stuff too: instagram, twitter and Snap Chat too. Just literally downloaded Snap Chat again, and I'm really unsure on that app!

Outside of Social Media: I'm teaching more, I have four adult students now. They are all from South Korea which is interesting. Mostly I've taught South Korean's here and a few Chinese people too.

I'm on a break for the year from university. It's exams right now, and I was clever enough to choose a paper which was all internal. I'm waiting on my final essay's grade which should be out by the time the Summer Semester begins.

Over Summer - after Christmas (so January and February), I'll be going crazy with Summer Shakespeare where I'm the Front of House Manager** - no pressure! The team -including me- was featured in Victorious the VUW alumni magazine recently - you can see that article and photo here. Was an awesomely fun photoshoot, and new for me- normally I'm on the other side of the camera and taking videos and such, so it was nice to play Model for an afternoon!

Just have to invoke my inner Queen Bee (Beyonce too!).

In a few weeks I'll be down to the Skeptics Conference again - 

Christchurch you'd better be ready for us! 

I'll be there for a few days with Dan and the local skeptics doing the conference talks 

and recording the podcast... 

IF I remember I'll also film some stuff to upload when we get back.

Music that has me singing along:

Adele's Hello! (2015)
Britney's Work B*  (2013).

Movies I love: 

The Minions movie (2015)
Moulin Rouge (2001)
Harry Potter - all of them (2001-2011)

Don't care that this is also from 2013: Selena's song Come and Get It 

- always makes me dance and sing along!
Also reminds me (fond memories) of working at a job I had for a few weeks when this song first came out and we played it in the store every day, super loud. 

One good thing about having a bit of time off before the craziness of Summer Shakespeare begins, means I have more time to catch up with and see friends...

So friends (yes this is me being my usual dorky, awkward self):  

It also means that YES I'm heading home to Taranaki for Christmas - see you soon New Plymouth!


**NOTE: This is the same page used every year, so in 2016 it will change to the next play for shows in February of the following year. Show dates for Love's Labours Lost are for February 2016.

Special post: PSA Wellington is 150 years old

Happy Birthday Wellington City! 

150 years old.

That calls for candles... Lots of candles.

26th July 1865 Wellington became the Capital City in New Zealand, on this day the Parliament met for the first time in the Government Buildings, in Wellington.

Today a whopping 150 years later not much has changed... Just kidding! 

Initially I aimed for 150 photos and pictures to share, but quickly realised it would take me literally days to search for locations and sweet spots, shoot them all and copy them here...

Instead below are a collection of fifty photographs that I've taken of Wellington city and the nearby area since moving here in 2009, when the city was a mere 144 years old!

 Meanwhile, I can barely believe I've lived here for so long, have just past my 6 year anniversary of moving here.

Wellington's waterfront and enjoying the sunshine.

Karori Road, Karori, by night.

The Waterfront.

The waterfront...

Selfie in Te Papa.

Te Papa.

Ceramics at Te Papa.

City views.

Budge my budgie. RIP little buddy (January 2012 - September 2012.)

Reflections from The Terrace.

Art drawn at Matchbox Studios. 

All copyright and rights to the artists signed therein.

Plants on the balcony, today I'm down to a pile of succulents.

Our apartment, main room. Changed a lot since the first year we moved in (shown above).

More plants.

Lounge/main room again.

Baby plants

Wellington's beautiful water front.

City views from VUW Kelburn. 

Waterfront and boats docked.

Another view from VUW Kelburn.

Dan and Teapot cocktails from Bad Grannies (Cuba Street).

Views of the street at night

City views in the evening

Bus stop selfie

Botanical Gardens concert during summer 2015.

Selfie of us at the Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens concert again (Air force band)

Changing lights...

More of the crowd in the Botanical Gardens for the concert series in summer 2015.

Views over the back of Swan Lane and Cuba Street

Tricky art shots

VUW Kelburn views of the city

Hunter building, VUW, Kelburn.

Lavender flowers in the Botanical Gardens.

Rose flowers in the Botanical Gardens

Street signs and roadworks in the city

Lily flowers in the Botanical Gardens

More rose flowers in the Botanical Gardens

Brooklyn park

Brooklyn Park

The old dentist building on upper Willis Street

Willis St and Dixon St corner

Lower Cuba street

Top of Willis street

Seashells at the sea shore

Oriental Bay beach

Dan at Oriental Bay beach

Looking to St Gerard's Church and Monastery on Mount Victoria from Oriental Bay beach

Above, that is 50 photographs all taken by me, 

Happy 150th Birthday Wellington, may there be many more to come!

Rights to the artists who drew, and painted the two portraits of us.